LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



B Y THE SAME A UTHOR. 
A PRACTICAL RHETORIC. 

For instruction in English Composition and Ke 
vision in Colleges and Intermediate Schools. 
By J. Scott Clark, A. M. i2mo. 

A BRIEFER PRACTICAL 

RHETORIC. 
By J. Scott Clark, A. M. i2mo. 

HENRY HOLT & CO., New York. 



THE ART OF 

READING ALOUD 



A TEXT-BOOK FOR CLASS INSTRUCTION 
IN PRACTICAL ELOCUTION 



/by 



J. SCOTT CLARK, A. M. 

Professor of the English Language in the Northwestern 

University and au+hor of li A Practical 

Rhetoric " 



NEW YORK §TOIO^ X 



HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 



L. 












Copyright, 1892, 

BY 

HENRY HOLT & CO. 



THE MERSHON COMPANY PRBSS, 
RAHWAV, N. J. 



TO MY 

PUPILS AT SYRACUSE 

FROM '82 TO '92, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS INSCRIBED 
WITH PLEASANT MEMORIES. 



PREFACE. 



The following pages represent the results of 
ten years of practical work in the class-room. The 
problem has been : given, a class of from forty 
to sixty members, meeting the instructor only one 
hour per week during the school year, with little 
opportunity for individual work, what can the 
instructor do to make every member of the class 
read distinctly, naturally, and effectively? It 
is believed that good reading underlies and im- 
plies good speaking — that one who reads well in 
private will speak well in public whenever he or 
she may have occasion so to do. 

The ordinary text-books in Elocution were 
early thrown aside as containing too much that 
is irrelevant and unnatural. In seeking for sub- 
ject matter that should call for the widest variety 
of natural conversational expression, nothing 
better has been found than Dickens's " Christmas 
Carol," which is therefore included in abridged 
form. In attempting to fix in pupils' minds the 
few essential principles that constitute the Science 
of Elocution, it was found desirable to prepare a 



Vl PREFACE. 

system of marginal references on somewhat the 
same plan that has been used in the author's 
" Practical Rhetoric." By this means the pupil 
acquires the habit of applying the principles in- 
ductively and almost unconsciously, and thus 
avoids the common danger of doing mere parrot 
work, in imitation of the teacher. This system of 
references, with the principles involved and with 
the various physical and other exercises, has 
several times been printed for the private use of 
the author's classes, but has not before been pub- 
lished. The results obtained by the method 
here given seem to afford sufficient warrant for 
placing it before the public. 

We shall be met at the outset by the objection 
that inflections and emphases are largely matters 
of taste, and that, therefore, it is useless to at- 
tempt to apply fixed principles to vocal expres- 
sion. This is a common theory, and it contains 
a shadow of truth ; but opposed to it is the 
simple fact, demonstrated year after year, that, 
in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, every 
member of a large class will agree in giving the 
same expression to a given word or sentence. 
Differences of opinion and taste in matters of 
emphasis and inflection are really no more com- 
mon than are the exceptions to the rules of Latin 
grammar. But the objection maybe granted with- 
out in any way injuring the method. For the 



PREFACE. VU 

prime object of this method is not to produce uni- 
formity, but to give ear culture. There may be, 
in a given class, three differing views of the 
proper way to express a certain clause. Two of 
these will generally be withdrawn during dis- 
cussion ; but even if all remain, the very process 
of discussion — each party giving it's reasons for 
it's view — is the very finest exercise in expression 
and the very surest means of cultivating the sen- 
sibilities of the entire class, If more attention 
were paid to this matter of ear culture, we should 
have more good readers. Moreover, the experi- 
ence of repeatedly making, and hearing made, 
fine and effective distinctions in vocal expression, 
teaches the pupil to think about his reading; and 
every teacher of reading knows how difficult it 
is to impress the need of studying a reading 
lesson. 

Much is said of vocal culture. It is the con- 
viction of the author, after ten years of practical 
trial, that little can be done with vocal culture 
under the ordinary class-room conditions. Its 
value is granted, but it must necessarily be con- 
fined to those teachers who have opportunity for 
giving personal drill and to those pupils who are so 
enamored with the art of reading that they will 
give to the practice of vocal and physical exer- 
cises the same long and continuous attention that 
the successful piano pupil must give to the 



VI 11 PREFACE. 

practice of scales. Such cases are rare on both 
sides. It is well, however, to make a class 
thoroughly familiar with the best vocal, breath- 
ing, and other physical exercises, and to urge 
their value and the necessity of constant practice. 
Beyond this the ordinary teacher cannot success- 
fully go inside of school hours. Such exercises 
are accordingly given here, in connection with 
the statement of the scientific principles of good 
reading. 

It will be observed that the marginal refer- 
ences are given only to the first section of the 
" Carols." The teacher can, of course, extend 
these at will, but it has been found that an or- 
dinary class of mature pupils will master the 
principles pretty thoroughly by •this amount of 
application. The number of references also 
grows somewhat less as the pupil advances. In 
taking up any other subject matter, the instructor 
may easily dictate, in assigning a lesson, such 
marginal references as the case seems to de- 
mand. It will be found desirable to require 
the pupil to continue to apply the principles, 
and to give his reasons for the expression pre- 
ferred, after he has passed the point where the 
printed references cease. Rare cases and forms 
of expression ought always to be noted, and 
the reasons ought to be required. Thus one 
may acquire that perfection which consists in 



PREFACE. ix 

applying one's art so naturally as to conceal 
it. 

It will be found better to have a class analyze 
carefully several pages before beginning to read. 
Then let reading and analysis proceed inter- 
changeably, the pupil analyzing so far as may be 
necessary to show that he has discovered the 
reasons for the expression that he employs. 
Thus, in beginning the recitation of the first page 
of the " Carols," a pupil would proceed some- 
what as follows : " There is a rhetorical pause, with 
rising inflection, after Mar ley ; a falling inflection 
on dead, because the sense is complete ; an em- 
phasis on begin; a falling inflection on with, be- 
cause the sense is complete ; an emphasis on 
whatever, followed by a rhetorical pause with 
rising inflection ; a falling inflection on that, be- 
cause sense complete ; an emphasis on burial, 
followed by a rhetorical pause with falling in- 
flection ; rising inflections on clergyman, clerk, and 
undertaker, because, although the sense is com- 
plete, the thoughts are grouped ; a falling inflec- 
tion on mourner, because the sense is complete ; 
an emphasis on Scrooge, followed by a rhetorical 
pause with falling inflection ; a falling inflection 
on it ; careful enunciation is necessary on 
Scrooge s; a rising slide on the clause " And 
. . . 'Change," because it expresses assurance ; 
a rhetorical pause, with rising inflection, after 



X PREFACE. 

'Change ; an emphasis on hand ; and a falling in- 
flection on to y because the sense is complete," 
etc., etc. 

The teacher will not find it wise to cover all 
the principles and exercises before the class 
begins to read. After a thorough mastery of 
pages I to 44, let the class begin with page 6y, 
constantly applying, and so reviewing and fixing, 
the principles already considered. Then take up 
the different sets of exercises, one set at a time, 
at intervals of several weeks. It will be found 
profitable to devote about five minutes at the 
beginning of each recitation to practicing, in 
concert, the set of exercises last taken up. 
While, in itself and without being supplemented 
by faithful daily practice in private, such a 
concert exercise cannot produce much result, it 
will enable the teacher to discover whether the 
pupils are practicing the exercises correctly in 
their private drill. The best order in which to 
take up the different sets of exercises is that in 
which they appear in the text. 

By proceeding in the manner above indicated, 
the pupil will learn to apply principles for him- 
self, and so to interpret effectively and naturally 
whatever he may wish to read. J. S. C 

August, 1892, 



THE 

ART OF READING ALOUD. 



THE SCIENCE OF ELOCUTION. 

ELOCUTION is both a science and an art. Asa 
science, its essential principles are few but im- 
portant. As an art, its mastery requires as faith- 
ful and continuous practice as is required in 
music or painting. In fact, good pianists are 
more common than good readers. Reading 
means much more than mere repetition ; it in- 
cludes the element of personality. The power of 
the human voice to express different emotions, 
passions, and shades of meaning is remarkable. 
Only he who fairly masters this power can be 
called a good reader. 

Good reading or speaking {Practical Elocution) 
consists in expressing all the meaning and all the 
feeling in a given passage. More study and 
practice is generally required to bring out the 
feeling than is necessary to express the meaning. 



2 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

ENUNCIATION. 

i. The first and most important element in 
good delivery is distinctness of enunciation. A 
speaker may have the voice of an O'Connell, 
or the grace of an Apollo, but unless he makes 
himself distinctly understood, he will be a 
failure. A perfect enunciation can be attained 
only by long and constant practice of certain 
vocal exercises, just as the skillful pianist must 
have practiced scales for years. In both cases 
it is simply a matter of muscular flexibility. 
Whenever the vocal organs act with perfect pre- 
cision and perfect promptness there will be per- 
fect enunciation. Few, however, have the dis- 
position or the patience to attain such perfection. 
For the ordinary reader, much may be accom- 
plished by cultivating a habit of observation in 
matters of enunciation. Indistinctness is due, 
almost entirely, to failure to enunciate the filial 
consonants or to aft unwarranted blending of final 
and initial consonants, as in the expression " asked 
Scrooge." Care must also be taken to avoid 
slurring such initial syllables as of in " official," es 
in " esteem," etc., making the expression " the 
highest esteem " sound like " the highest steam." 
In cultivating a habit of observation, it will be 
found profitable to mark all words in which there 
is danger of inaccuracy or indistinctness. A 



TOXE-QUALITY. 3 

simple method is to draw a vertical line through 
every such word, as the reading lesson is studied. 
In the marginal marking to follow, the number 
(i) will be used to denote any such words or 
syllables. 

TONE-QUALITY. 

The speaking tones are generally divided into 
seven, as follows : 

2. The Natural or Conversational Tone, often 
called, technically, the pure tone, which is used in 
the delivery of all unemotional composition. 

3. The Orotund Tone. — This differs from the 
natural tone mainly in degree, not in kind. It is 
the natural tone with increased volume, and cor- 
responds to the " swell " of a cabinet organ. 
The origin of the term is found in the mask worn 
by those ancient Grecian actors who were to take 
the parts of kings, deities, and other grand per- 
sonages. In order to make the voice resound 
more widely, this mask was made with the mouth- 
piece so rounded out (ore rotundd) as to produce 
a reverberation. The tone is used now as for- 
merly in delivering all passages involving the 
ideas of grandeur, majesty, sublimity, awe, etc., 
and in personating characters in which such qual- 
ities are supposed to inhere. Good examples for 
practice are found in such selections as Coleridge's 
" Hymn to Mount Blanc," Byron's " Apostrophe 



4 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

to the Ocean," and Mrs. Alexander's " Burial of 
Moses." But the orotund, like the other extra- 
ordinary tones, is effective only because it is un- 
common. It seldom runs through an entire selec- 
tion, but is to be used only in particular para- 
graphs, sentences, or clauses. 

III. — " Thou glorious mirror, where the Al- 
mighty's form 
Glasses itself in tempests; in all time, 
Calm or convulsed — in breeze or gale or 
storm, 
Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime 
Dark heaving — boundless, endless, and 
sublime — 
The image of Eternity — the throne 
Of the invisible ; even from out thy slime 
The monsters of the deep are made ; 
each zone 
Obeys thee ; thou goest forth dread, 
fathomless, alone." 

— Apostrophe to the Ocean. 

4. The Aspirate Tone or Half -Whisper. — This 
tone is made by emitting the breath faster than 
it can be controlled by the vocal chords. It is 
used to express secrecy, fear, and the like, and 
varies in the degree of aspiration according to 
the intensity of the emotion. It must not be 
confounded with the full whisper, in which there 



TONE-QUALITY. 5 

is no vocalization, although in extreme fear the 
aspirate degenerates into this. 

///. — "Silence along the lines there! not a 
word — not a word, on peril of your lives ! Hist ! 
silence, my men — not a whisper as we move up 
those steep rocks ! " 

— Death-bed of Benedict Arnold. 

5. The Guttural Tone. — This resembles the 
aspirate, but the " aspirate quality " is here 
much more marked. That is, the feeling is 
stronger and, accordingly, more superfluous 
breath is used than in the aspirate. The Guttural 
is the tone of the malignant emotions, such as 
hatred, aversion, horror, loathing, etc. 

77/. — " How like a fawning publican he looks ! 
I hate him, for he is a Christian. 
If I can catch him once upon the hip 
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear 
him." 

— Merchant of Venice. 

6. The Nasal Tone. — This is produced by forc- 
ing the breath into the nose before it leaves the 
mouth, and is a result of that common but bad 
habit of closing the throat in speaking, already 
mentioned. The nasal tone is to be used only 
in personating characters who are supposed to 
use it, such as boors, etc, 



6 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

III. — " But the deacon swore (as deacons do, 

With an ' I dew vum ' or an ' I tell 

yeou ') 
He would build one shay to beat the 

taoun 
'N the keounty V all the kentry raoun ; 
It should be so built that it couldn't 

break down, 
* Fur/ said the deacon, ' 't's mighty 

plain 
That the weakes' place must stan' the 

strain ; 
'N the way t' fix it, uz I maintain, 

Is only jest 
T' make that uz strong as the rest.' " 
— The One Hoss Shay. 

J. The Falsetto. — This is caused by raising the 
pitch of the tone above the natural register. It 
is also called the head tone. It has but little 
volume or resonance, and is used in impersonat- 
ing illness, childishness, old age, etc. 

///. — " There was silence for a little while ; 
then an old man replied in a thin, trembling 
voice, ' Nicholas Vedder ! why he's been dead 
and gone these eighteen years.' " 

— Rip Van Winkle. 

III. — " ' Floy, did I ever see mamma ? ' 
<' ' No, darling ; why ? \ 



TONE-QUALITY. 7 

" ' Did I never see any kind face, like a mam- 
ma's, looking at me when I was a baby, Floy ? ' 

" ' Oh, yes, dear ! ' 

" ' Whose, Floy ? ' 

" ' Your old nurse's. Often.' 

" ' And where is my old nurse ? Show me that 
old nurse, Floy, if you please.' " 

— Death of Paul Dombey. 

8. The Oral Tone. — This results from slovenly 
articulation, hence the name, mouth tone. It is 
what Shakspere referred to when he said, 
" But if you mouth it as some of our players do," 
etc. It is used in impersonating fops, fine ladies, 
and all affected characters. The sayings of " Lord 
Dundreary " are well-known illustrations. 

///. — " ' Have you completed all the prepara- 
tions necessary to Miss Sedley's departure, Miss 
Jemima ? ' asked Mrs. Pinkerton herself, that 
majestic lady; the Semiramis of Hammersmith, 
and the friend of Dr. Johnson. 

" ' The girls were up at four this morning, pack- 
ing her trunks, sister,' replied Miss Jemima ; 'we 
have made her a bow-pot.' ' Say a bouquet, sis- 
ter Jemima, 'tis more genteel. And I trust, Miss 
Jemima, that you have made a copy of Miss Sed- 
ley's account. This is it, is it? Very good — 
ninety-three pounds, four shillings. Be kind 
enough to address it to John Sedley, Esquire, 



8 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

and to seal this billet which I have written to his 

lady.' " — Vanity Fair. 

Of the tones above enumerated, the first three 
are sometimes called proper and the last four im- 
proper, because the latter are objectionable, ex- 
cept in impersonation. All but the natural tone 
are expressive only because of their rarity, and are 
generally to be used only in certain special para- 
graphs, sentences, or clauses. 

UTTERANCE. 

There are three kinds of utterance, correspond- 
ing to the Breathing Exercises, given hereafter, 
and similarly named. 

9. Expulsive Utterance is that which is used in 
the delivery of all unemotional composition. In 
ordinary conversation it is not marked, but in all 
argumentive oratory it is the most effective ele- 
ment. It corresponds to staccato expression in 
music, and consists in giving to each important syl- 
lable a distinct expulsion {expello) of the breath. 
The test of good expulsive utterance is the ability 
to substitute a numerical count for each important 
syllable. It is conveniently marked by putting 

staccato marks above any 

passage where the reader wishes to make the ex- 
pulsive effect prominent. 

Ills. — " Four score and seven years ago our 



UTTERANCE. 9 

fathers brought forth upon this continent a 
new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 
to the proposition that all men are created 
equal ; now we are engaged in a great civil 
war, testing whether that nation, or any nation 
so conceived and so dedicated, can long en- 
dure." 

— Lincoln s Gettysburg Speech. 

" The gentleman from South Carolina taunts 
us with counting the costs of that war in which 
the liberties and honor of the country, and the 
interests of the North, as he asserts, were forced 
to go elsewhere for their defense. Will he sit 
down with me and count the cost now? Will he 
reckon up how much of treasure the State of 
South Carolina expended in that war, and 
how much the State of Massachusetts ? How 
much of the blood of either State was poured 
out on sea or land ? I challenge the gentle- 
man to the test of patriotism which the army 
roll, the navy lists, and the treasury books 
afford." 

— Webster s Reply to Hayne. 

" It is a grave thing when a State puts a man 
among her jewels, the glitter of whose fame 
makes doubtful acts look heroic. The honors 
we grant mark how high we stand, and they 
educate the future. The men we honor and 



io THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

the maxims we lay down in measuring our 
favorites, show the level and the morals of the 
time." 

— Wendell PJiillips on "Idols." 

io. Effusive Utterance is used in delivering all 
composition embodying the gentler emotions. It 
corresponds to legato expression in music, and 
consists in allowing the breath to flow out 
{effundo) tranquilly, thus giving a smooth, 
gliding effect. It is the most essential charac- 
teristic of gentler emotional composition. It is 
most strikingly illustrated by disregarding it 
in reading some emotional poem and sub- 
stituting the marked staccato, or expulsive utter- 
ance. 

Ills. — " Oh, a wonderful stream is the river Time, 

As it runs through the realm of tears, 

With a faultless rhythm and a musical 

rhyme, 
And a boundless sweep and a surge 
sublime, 
As it blends with the Ocean of Years." 
— The Isle of Long Ago. 

" By the flow of the inland" river, 

Whence the fleets of iron have fled, 
Where the blades of the grave grass 
quiver, 
Asleep are the ranks of the dead ; — 



UTTERANCE. 1 1 

Under the sod and the dew, 
Waiting the judgment day; — 

Under the one, the Blue ; 
Under the other, the Gray." 

— The Blue and the Gray. 

II. Explosive Utterance is used in expressing 
all great excitement, especially that of a?iger, 
hatred, terror, and the malignant passions gener- 
ally. A familiar illustration is the shout, as in 
an alarm of fire. 

///. — " ' Merry Christmas ! What right have 
you to be merry? Out upon Merry Christmas ! 
What's Christmas time tfo you but a time for 
paying bills without money ; a time for finding 
yourself a year older and not an hour richer; a 
time for balancing your books and having every 
item in 'em through a round' dozen of months 
presented dead against you ? If I could work 
my will,' said Scrooge, indignantly, ' every idiot 
who goes about with " Merry Christmas " on his 
lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and 
buried with a stake of holly run through his 
heart. He should ! ' " 

— Christmas Carols. 

It cannot be too deeply impressed that the 
different kinds of utterance, like the different 
qualities of tone, are to be made prominent only 



12 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

in occasional passages. The frequent repetition 
of any marked form of expression will destroy all 
its effect. 

PITCH. 

For the purpose of minute analysis, five arbi- 
trary divisions of pitch are generally recognized : 

12. Medium Pitch, used in common conversa- 
tion and in delivering unemotional passages of a 
narrative, descriptive, or didactic character. 

13. Low Pitch, a slight lowering of the voice 
to express what is serious, grave, impressive, or 
austere, but not the lowest note on which one can 
conveniently speak. It is generally used also in 
warning. 

///. — " Oh, the grave, the grave ! It buries every 
error, covers every defect, extinguishes every re- 
sentment ! From its peaceful bosom spring none 
but fond regrets and tender recollections. Who 
can look down, even upon the grave of an enemy, 
and not feel a compunctious throb, that he should 
ever have warred with the poor handful of earth 
that lies moldering before him ? " 

— Washington Irving. 

14. Very Low Pitch, used in deep solemnity, deep 
grief, awe, despair, etc., the voice being held by 
the will to as low a note as can conveniently be 
retained. 



PITCH. IS 

III. — " By day its voice is low and light ; 
But in the silent dead of night, 
Distinct as a passing footstep's fall, 
It echoes along the vacant hall, 
Along the ceiling, along the floor, 
And seems to say, at each chamber door, 
1 Forever — never ! 
Never — forever.' " 
— The Old Clock on the Stairs. 

15. High Pitch, used to express gayety, joy, 
serenity, beauty, etc., the voice rising a little 
above the conversational level. 

///. — " Away they all went, twenty couple at 
once ; hands half round and back again the other 
way; down the middle and up again ; round and 
round in various stages of affectionate grouping; 
old top couple always turning up in the wrong 
place ; new top couple starting off again as soon as 
they got there ; all top couples at last, and not a 
bottom one to help them ! " 

— Christmas Carols. 

16. Very High Pitch, used to express intense 
joy, astonishment, delight, and all hysterical ex- 
tremes of passion. Here the voice runs upward 
to the limit of the compass. 

77/. — " Joy, joy forever ! my task is done ! 

The gates are passed and heaven is won !" 
— Lalla Rookh. 



14 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

The thorough mastery of high and low pitch 
is as important as it is rare among speakers. By 
the daily repetition of appropriate passages be- 
fore some musical instrument, by which the 
speaker may test his pitch, holding the voice 
resolutely down or up by an excercise of the will, 
the most inflexible voice may be wonderfully 
increased in richness. 

FORCE. 

There are five arbitrary degrees of force, cor- 
responding in name and similar in use to those 
of Pitch. 

17. Medium Force, used in ordinary conver- 
sation, etc. 

18. Soft Force, not quite so loud as Medium 
Force, and used to express moderate solemnity, 
serenity, sympathy, earnestness, etc. 

///. — " Beautiful was the night. Behind the 
dark wall of the forest, 
Tipping its summit with silver, arose the 

moon. On the river 
Fell here and there through the branches 
a tremulous gleam of the moonlight, 
Like the sweet thoughts of love on a 
darkened and devious spirit." 

— Evangeline. 

19. Very Soft Force, using as little vocal iza- 



FORCE. 15 

tion as possible, without merging into the half 
whisper; used to express great secrecy, deep 
solemnity \ fear, dread, pity, warning, etc. 

///. — " Gent. — Lo you, here she comes. This is 
her very guise, and upon my life fast as-leep. 
Observe her ; stand close. 

" Doctor. — Hark ! she speaks. I will set down 
what comes from her, to satisfy my remembrance 
the more strongly." 

— The Sleep- Walking Scene — Macbeth. 

20. Lond Force, a little louder than Medium. 
Used to express mild intellectual excitement of 
any form, and especially in oratorical climaxes. 

///. — " But not a word of one effort to lift the 
yoke of cruel or unequal legislation from the 
neck of its victims ; not one attempt to make the 
code of his country wiser, purer, better; not one 
effort to bless his times or breathe a higher moral 
purpose into the community. Not one blow 
struck for right or for liberty, while the battle of 
the giants was going on about him ; not one 
patriotic act to stir the heart of his idolaters ; not 
one public act of any kind whatever, about whose 
merit friend or foe could even quarrel, unless 
when he scouted our great charter as a glitter- 
ing generality, or jeered at the philanthropy 



1 6 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

which tried to practice the Sermon on the 
Mount." 

— Wendell PJiillips on CJwate. 

21. Very Loud Force, used in sJionting, raving, 
etc. 

///. — " The captain called out through his 
trumpet : * John Maynard ! ' ' Ay, ay, sir ! ' 
' Are you at the helm ? ' ' Ay, ay, sir ! ' ' How 
does she head ? ' * Southeast by east, sir.' 
'Head her southeast and run her on shore!' 
shouted the captain." — The Pilot. 

The pupil is especially to be cautioned against 
confounding Pitch with Force. They are in no 
sense identical ; and although the corresponding 
degrees of each are generally found together, this 
is not always the case. For example, the ideas of 
grandeur and the like [Coleridge's " Hymn to Mt. 
Blanc "] are best expressed in a tone both low and 
loud, while that of weakness [Dickens in " The 
Death of Paul Dombey "] is both soft and high. 

TIME OR MOVEMENT. 

The divisions of Time, in speaking, correspond 
closely to those of Pitch and Force. They are : 

22. Medium Time, used in ordinary conversa- 
tion, etc. 

23. Slow Time, a little slower than Medium, to 



TIME OR MOVEMENT. 17 

express tranquil or sedate feeling, deliberation, 
caution, etc. When combined with marked ex- 
pulsive utterance, this gives great emphasis to a 
didactic sentence. See illustration under Loud 
Force. 

24. Very Sloiv Time, to express deep contem- 
plation, prof ound awe, etc. See illustration under 
Orotund Tone. 

25. Quick Time, a little faster than Medium, 
to express eagerness, animation, gayety, and all 
lively emotions. See illustration under High 
Pitch. 

26. Very Quick Time, to express ecstasy, rap- 
ture, haste, and most kinds of intense excite- 
ment. 

///. — " Pull, pull in you-r lassoes, and bridle to 
steed, 
And speed, if ever for life you would 
% speed, 

And ride for your lives, for your lives 

you must ride, 
For the plain is aflame, the prairie on 

fire, 
And feet of wild horses hard flying be- 
fore 
I hear like a sea breaking high on the 
shore." 

— Joaquin Miller, 



1 3 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

INFLECTIONS, SLIDES, AND PAUSES. 

The terms slide and inflection are often used 
indiscriminately, but it will be helpful to confine 
the term inflection to such a continuous variation 
in pitch as is made upon any single syllable, whet he}' 
upward or downward, while the term slide is ap- 
plied to such a continuous variation in pitch as is 
made upon any number of consecutive words or 
syllables. Sometimes, when the inflection on a 
single syllable is very marked, as in an interjec- 
tion, it is called a slide. This term is used es- 
pecially when the voice passes upward or down- 
ward through more than three musical intervals. 
It is a peculiarity of the speaking voice that it rises 
or falls, generally, by thirds, fifths, and octaves ; 
so that we have, technically, the inflection of 
the third, and the slide of the fifth and of the 
octave. Sometimes, as in the case of assurance 
(T 53)> a rising slide ends with a falling inflec- 
tion. 

In the following passage from the " Christmas 
Carols," for example, we have the rising inflection 
of the third on the words nephew in the first line, 
sternly in the second, and nephew in the fifth. We 
have, also, the rising slide of the fifth on uncle 
in the first line, the rising slide of the octave on 
keep it in the fifth line, and the falling slide of 
the octave on dont in the sixth line, the falling 



INFLECTIONS, SLIDES, AND PAUSES. 19 

slide of the fifth on nephew ! in the second 
line, and the falling inflection of the third on 
mine at the end of the fourth line. 

" ' Uncle ! ' pleaded the nephew. 

" ' Nephew ! ' returned the uncle, sternly, ' keep 
Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it 
in mine.' 

" ' Keep it ! ' repeated Scrooge's nephew. 
' But you don't keep it.' " 

For all practical purposes, it is sufficient to 
divide the inflections into five, namely : 

27. The Falling Inflection, marked \; used to 
express completeness, assertion, formality, positive- 
ness, finality, etc. 

28. The Rising Inflection, marked /; used to 
express surprise, incompleteness, doubt, uncer- 
tainty, etc. If the surprise is great, the inflec- 
tion becomes a rising slide. 

29. The Circumflex, marked V or A. The 
first of these marks indicates the falling cir- 
cumflex, and the second the rising circumflex. 
Both forms are used to express irony, sarcasm, 
etc. 

V V 
Ills.— =■ " Hath a dog money ? is it possible 

V V 

A cur can lend three thousand ducats ! " 
— Merchant of Venice, 



20 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

V A 

" Her mother only killed a cow, 

A A 

Or witched a churn or dairy-pan ; 

V A 

But she, forsooth, must charm a man." 

— The Witctis Daughter. 

30. The Suspensive Inflection or Partial Close, 
marked \. This is sometimes known also as the 
rhetorical pause ; but this is a misnomer, for 
all inflections mark rhetorical pauses, and few 
rhetorical pauses can be made without some in- 
flection. Whoever wishes to become a good 
reader must rid himself, absolutely, of the wretched 
fault, so often, alas ! taught as a principle in our 
primary schools, of pausing only at grammatical 
points, and of making a falling inflection on every 
semicolon, colon, and period, and a rising inflec- 
tion on every comma. Grammatical points have 
almost nothing to do with rhetorical or reading 
pauses. The voice falls quite as often as it rises 
on a comma; it frequently rises on a semicolon, 
colon, and period ; and it either rises or falls re- 
peatedly where there is no punctuation whatever. 

In general, it may be said that every emphasis 
is necessarily accompanied by a rhetorical pause 
of greater or less length. In reading verse of 
any kind there should be only a delicate poise of 
the voice at the end of every line, not a pause, . 



INFLECTIONS, SLIDES, AND PAUSES. 21 

The Suspensive Inflection consists, generally, 
in dropping the voice only part way down to the 
key-note, whereas in the Falling Inflection it 
reaches the key-note. Sometimes, however, the 
voice is merely held in suspense with no easily 
perceptible variation in pitch. This inflection in- 
dicates incompleteness in thought, of all kinds. 
It is very commonly employed by our best 
speakers, and is very effective when made at the 
end of each preliminary part of a climax or other 
loose sentence. See, for illustration, the climax 
given under Loud Force. 

31. This number (31) is used in marginal ref- 
erence to rhetorical pauses with rising inflections, 
that is where there is no punctuation. 

32. The Semitone. — In expressing all ideas and 
emotions save that of pathos, the voice naturally 
passes upward on each word through about one 
musical interval (slide of the diatone) without re- 
gard to inflection properly so-called. In all purely 
pathetic expression, however, the voice passes 
upward through only half a musical interval ; 
hence the term semitone. This corresponds to 
the minor key in music, and, as in music, it is 
the essential element in all pathetic expression. In 
employing the semitone, however, the speaker 
must be careful not to confound mere solemnity, 
sadness, etc., with pathos, which implies real suf- 
fering. 



22 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

III. — " Break, break, break, 

At the foot of thy crags, O sea ! 
But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
Will never come back to me." 

— Tennyson. 

33. The Monotone ', marked — , is not really 
an inflection. It would more properly be called 
the level to?ie. It means, simply, the retention of 
one key-note throughout a clause or sentence. 
Accompanied with effusive utterance and the 
orotund quality, it is the peculiar mark of devo- 
tion and reverence. 

///.— "Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of Sa- 
baoth ! All the world is full of thy glory." 

STRESS. 

The subject of stress, as presented in most 
books on Elocution, is too intangible to be of 
much practical value to the ordinary reader. A 
few definitions, however, may be helpful. 

34. Radical or Initial Stress, marked ^^, in 
which the force is. supposed to come on the first 
part of a word, bears some resemblance to dimin- 
uendo in music, and except where applied to an 
entire clause, corresponds, for all practical pur- 
poses, to expulsive utterance. It is further illus 
trated by the blow of a hammer, etc. 



STRESS. 23 

35. Median Stress, marked o in which 
the force is supposed to come on the middle of 
the word, resembles swell in music. It is de- 
scribed as " a gradual strengthening and subse- 
quent reduction of the voice," and corresponds, 
practically, to effusive utterance. 

36. Final, Vanishing, or Terminal Stress, 
marked ^^, in which the force is supposed to 
come on the end of the word, resembles crescendo 
in music. Except as applied to an entire clause, 
it corresponds, practically, to explosive utterance. 

37. Compound Stress, marked X, has no 
parallel in music, and corresponds, practically, 
to the frequent use of the circumflex inflec- 
tions. 

38. Thorough Stress, marked , resembles 

organ tone in music. Here the force is equally 
distributed on the whole word. It is illustrated 
and used chiefly in street calls, military com- 
mands, etc. 

Ills. — " Boat, ahoy ! " 

" Forward, file right, march ! " 

"Child lost!" 

39. Intermittent Stress or Tremor, marked VVV, 
resembles tremolo in music, and is used very 
effectively to express fear, joy, etc., and espe- 
cially, when combined with falsetto quality, the 
weakness of old age. 



24 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

III. — " I've got all my faculties yet sound and 
bright ; 
Slight failure my eyes are beginning 
to hint ; 
-But still, with my spectacles on, and a 
light 
'Twixt them and the page, I can read 
any print." 

—Old Chums. 

COLORING. 

40. It often happens that a single word or 
expression is charged with deep feeling, and yet 
it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine 
by analysis in just what the expression consists. 
It may not be any distinct case of pitch, utter- 
ance, etc., or it may be such a combination of 
several forms of expression as not easily to be 
defined. Nevertheless, the reader sees the dra- 
matic power in such a word and his hearer feels 
it when it is spoken. We say, in such a case, 
that the word is colored with the emotion, what- 
ever it be. In this sense coloring resembles timbre 
or quality in music, though in its broader sense 
it covers many of the other forms of expression. 

EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 

Although the subject of Emphasis cannot be 
reduced entirely to rules, there are a few princi- 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 25 

pies which are observed so generally and so un- 
consciously by all good speakers that they may 
well receive attention. If not invariable, they are 
at least as nearly so as the ordinary rules of 
grammar. Emphasis is ordinarily defined as an 
increased stress of voice on some particular word 
or words in a sentence. That this is not a sound 
definition may easily be proved. There may be 
increased stress, but not necessarily. A word 
may be made emphatic and yet receive no more 
or even less stress than the other words in a sen- 
tence. Emphasis means contrast ; and that con- 
trast is brought out, essentially, by a variation in 
pitch and melody. 

Emphasis may, therefore, be more accurately 
defined as a waving variation in pitch for the pur- 
pose of contrast, sometimes, but not necessarily, ac- 
companied by a peculiar stress of voice. It is 
marked thus ~ above the word. Close analysis 
shows that in emphasis the voice starts from the 
key-note of the sentence, gradually rises to a 
point above, then gradually returns to the key- 
note and leaves the word at a point a little above 
again. 

41. In a long clause which culminates in an 
emphatic word, the voice generally begins to rise 
at the beginniug of the clause, and reaches the 
highest point of the first upward curve on the 
culminating word, thus: "There is an element 



26 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

o* poetry in us all." Here the wave culminates 
on poetry. In other words, " the slide of empha- 
sis begins at the last pause before the emphatic 
word." 

Variety of emphasis and inflection is generally 
involved in accuracy. As in good composition 
there is no monotonous repetition of the same 
idea, so in good reading there should be no mo- 
notony of emphasis or inflection, such, for example 
as is caused by the common bad habit of empha- 
sizing the last word in every line of verse. 

PRINCIPLES OF EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 

42. Raise the pitcli, slightly, in beginning a new 
paragraph. In reading a paragraph of any length, 
the voice naturally works downward ; and if the 
new paragraph is begun on the same key with the 
last word in the preceding, the monotony becomes 
very unpleasant. A rise in pitch is simply a mark 
of the new life and animation which should be 
thrown into every beginning. 

43. EmpJiasize only words that express NEW or 
CONTRASTED ideas. In case of doubt as to what 
is the most important word in a clause, three 
tests may be applied : (1) It is the word that is 
indispensable to the thought; (2) the word of 
the clause that a deaf person must hear in order 
to tell what the speaker is talking about ; (3) the 
word that can be made the climax of the clause 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 27 

by re-arrangement. This number (43) is used in 
marginal reference to important emphases. 

44. Words and expressio?is contrasted in mean- 
ing are to be contrasted in inflection. 

Ills. — " Black and white, rich and poor, all alike 
were welcome." 

" Art thou he that should come, or do we look 
for another? " 

45. (See 27.) Simple assertions and clauses 
resembling such in form generally take a falling 
inflection. All assertion of the will — all positive- 
ness, strength, courage, firmness, etc., tends to 
express itself in falling inflections, no matter 
what the punctuation or lack of punctuation. 

Ills. — " Marley was dead to begin with." 
" There it stood years afterward above the 
warehouse door — Scrooge & Marley." 

46. A definite que st ion {one that can be answered 
by "yes" or "no") generally takes a rising slide, 
(a) When repeated for emphasis, however, or (b) 
when the question is simply a positive assertion 
in disguised form, it takes a falling slide. 

Ills. — " Did they not rally to battle as men flock 
to a feast ? " 

(a) And— " Wilt thou be Lord of all the 
world ?" " What sayest thou ? " " Wilt thou be 
Lord of all the world ? That's twice." 



28 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

But (b) — " I am charged with pride and ambi- 
tion. Does it not become a descendant of the 
Ptolemies?" 

47. An indefinite question {one that cannot be 
answered by "yes " or " no ") generally takes a fall- 
ing slide, (a) When, however, the question is 
repeated for emphasis, or (b) when it expresses 
doubt, uncertainty, or deference to the will of the 
hearer, it takes a rising slide. 

Ills.— > u What are their crimes that they hide 
themselves in darkness ? " 

(a) " Hark you, fellow ! whom do you live 
with ? " " Whom do I live with ? with my 
mistress, to be sure." 

(b) " Where is he ? " " In town." "Where?" 

48. When either a definite or an indefinite inter- 
rogative is very long, it is difficult, sometimes 
impossible, to carry the voice steadily upward or 
downward from beginning to end, as the case 
may be. In such a case the interrogative effect 
may be retained by delivering the beginning and 
the closing words of the sentence with the appro- 
priate slide and by carrying the middle part of 
the sentence in a level tone. 

Great care is necessary here to prevent the 
voice from varying from the level on the middle 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 29 

part. There is no better exercise in flexibility of 
tone and in sharpness of distinction by the ear 
than is found in long interrogative sentences. 

Ills. — " Was it the deep malady of a blighted 
hope, a ruined enterprise, and a broken heart, 
aching in its last moments, at the recollection of 
the loved and left beyond the sea ? " 

" What other two men, whose lives belong to 
the eighteenth century of Christendom, have left 
a deeper impression of themselves upon the age 
in which they lived and upon all after time ? " 

49. A conditional clause, or one resembling it in 
form, takes a rising slide. A participial clause or 
a clause in the imperative mood is often but a 
conditional clause in disguise. This is but a 
repetition of the idea already suggested, that all 
forms of incompleteness, uncertainty, etc., tend 
to express themselves in rising movements of the 
voice. 

Ills. — " If reserves are not sent up at once, the 
day will be lost." 

" In the event of its being impossible, it might 
involve the necessity of an embarrassing explana- 
tion." 

" And so surely as the clerk came in with the 
shovel, the master predicted that it would be 
necessary for them to part." 



3© THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

In many cases, the slide of the conditional 
clause becomes only a marked form of the slide 
of emphasis, already discussed. 

50. When any clause or expression taking either 
a rising or a falling slide is followed by ex. 
planatory zvords, the slide is continued over those 
words. 

Ills. — " ' Do you know Mr. Brown ? ' said Arthur 
to his friend one morning at breakfast." 

" ' And how did little Tim behave ? ' asked Mrs. 
Cratchit." 

This often becomes a case of principle 47. 

51. In a series of similar interrogatives, closely 
connected in thought, whether definite or indefi- 
nite, or in an interrogative consisting of several 
parts, each of the slides should extend a little 
higher or a little lower than the preceding, as the 
case may be. 

Ills. — "Is it right? Is it just? Is it honor- 
able ? " 

" Where will you go ? What will you do ? 
How will you live ? " 

52. The waving slide '**-', which carries the 
voice first above and then below the level, is used 
in the delivery of an indirect interrogative, that 
is, an interrogative expressed in the form of an 
assertion. 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 3 1 

Ills. — " You are not going ? " 

" He did not refuse to accept your gift? " 

This is really but the expansion of the circum- 
flex inflection so as to make it cover several 
words instead of one or two syllables. 

53. Assurance is generally expressed with a 
rising slide. 

77/. — " And Scrooge's name was good upon 
'Change for anything he chose to put his hand 
to." 

54. Words and expressions used in direct ad- 
dress take a rising inflection except in three 
cases : 

(a) When repeated for emphasis. 

{b) When coming directly after a very strong 
emphasis. 

(c) When used formally, as in the address at 
the beginning of a letter, etc. 

This principle must not be confounded with 
No. 55 when used on proper names. 

Ills. — " Jesus, lover of my soul — ." 
But, "Jesus! the name that charms our 
fears — ." 

(a) " ' John ! John ! John ! ' called his father 
more positively." 

(b) " Get thee behind me, Satan ! " 



32 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

(c) " Mr. President : it is with profound solem- 
nity that I appear before this august assembly." 

55. A simple exclamation generally takes a 
falling slide, although when expressing surprise, 
astonishment, etc., the slide is upward according 
to T 28. In the latter case the exclamation is 
often simply a disguised question. 

Ills. — " How bright are the honors that await 
those who die for their country! " 

" Why, it isn't possible," said Scrooge, " that 1 
can have slept through a whole day and far into 
another night ! " 

(a) It sometimes happens that a slide on a 
proper name or other expression is continued over 
the rest of the sentence. This is really a case of 
ISO. 

Ills. — " ' John Peerybingle ! ' said Tackleton 
with an air of condolence." 

56. When a word, emphatic in theory, is fol- 
lowed by an inseparable adjunct (a preposition and 
its object) the emphasis is generally deferred 
until that adjunct. This principle is as natural 
and perhaps as unexplainable as an idiom in 
grammar. Possibly it is due to the fact that we 
tend to reserve our emphasis until the thought 
is completed, which cannot be until after the ad- 
junct is read. 









EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 33 

Ills. — " I haven't a bit in the world." 

" No man or woman ever once in all his life 

inquired the way to such and such a place of 

Scrooge." 

57. When a word emphatic in theory is fol- 
lowed by a restrictive relative clause, the emphasis 
is generally deferred to the latter part of that 
clause. 

Ills. — " No wind that blew was bitterer than he." 
"The love that survives the tomb is one of the 
noblest attributes of the soul." 

58. Emphasis is getter ally deferred to the latter 
part of an extended logical subject. This case is 
often identical with that of principles 56 and 57. 
Like these, it illustrates the natural tendency to 
throw the emphasis to the end of the clause. 
This harmonizes with an essential principle in 
Rhetoric ; for, other things being equal, the 
thought should reach its climax at the end of the 
clause. 

///. — " To be always thinking of the criticisms 
of others is to be always miserable." 

59. Any passage in parenthesis should be read 
with softer force (not lower pitch) than the con- 
text. 

///. — " What he was in toys he was (as most 
men are) in all other things." 



34 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

60. In a series of words or expressions, equally 
empliatic in theory, it is better, generally, to defer 
the emphasis until the last. This is, perhaps, the 
most important principle of emphasis : for, by- 
observing it, the reader may rid himself of a most 
common and a most serious fault — over-emphasis. 
Too much emphasis is quite as bad as none. A 
landscape made up of numberless hills, all of about 
the same height, is quite as monotonous as a dead 
prairie. 

Ills. — " Property, character, reputation, every- 
thing was sacrificed." 

" Charity beareth all things, hopeth all things, 
endureth all things." 

61. Never anticipate an emphasis, especially in 
antithesis. That is, never read in such away that 
the hearer can see that you have in mind words 
that have not yet been pronounced. Says one of 
our most practical writers on Elocution, we must 
read "not as if the thoughts were committed to 
memory beforehand, but as if they were born at the 
moment of utterance." In antithesis, as in a series, 
there is danger of over-emphasis. This may be 
avoided by deferring the earlier emphases until 
they are suggested by the emphasis on the 
contrasted words. Emphasis means contrast, and 
a double contrast is superfluous. 

62. Clauses expressing fijiality, conclusiveness, 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 35 

completeness, discouragement, etc., take a falling 
slide. This principle has been already suggested 
in discussing the different inflections. In discour- 
agement, both voice and gesture tend downward. 

Ills, — " And thus the cheerful voices died away, 
and the lads were left to themselves." 

" There's no use in saying anything more about 
it. It's settled." 

"I'm just completely tired out. I've done all 
I could, and there is nothing to show for it." 

63. Grouped thoughts must be distinguished 
from detached thoughts. If it is evident that, at 
the time of writing, the author had in mind all the 
separate thoughts of a series, each of these except 
the last is delivered with a rising inflection, and 
the last with a falling inflection. But if it is evi- 
dent that the different thoughts were suggested 
separately and successively, all are delivered 
with falling inflections. 

Ills. — " He manifested the virtues of honesty, 
industry, frugality, and justice." 

"The chain he drew was made of cash-boxes, 
keys, padlocks, ledgers, and heavy purses wrought 
in steel." 

64. A complete declarative sentence having a re- 
lated sequel understood closes with a rising inflec- 
tion, no matter what the punctuation. 



36 THE ART OF READING ALOUD 

Ills. — "No beggars implored him to bestow a 
trifle." [No indeed, etc., understood.] 

" We did not quite succeed." " Pre( ty near it, 
though." [Not quite, etc., understood.] 

65. In an oratorical climax or in any series of 
clauses implying # steadily incr easing interest \ the 
voice rises or falls, as the case may be, by dis- 
tinct steps or grades in pitch, on each successive 
clause, instead of passing up or down in a contin- 
uous slide. 

66. In passages like those mentioned in prin- 
ciple 65, and in all loose sentences, whether wholly 
or partially declarative, the partial close is used 
at the end of every clause but the last, as already 
stated in discussing that inflection. 

///. — " Not one high moral trait specified ; not 
one patriotic act mentioned ; not one patriotic 
service even claimed." 

6y. Continuity is generally expressed by a mon- 
otone, or, more properly, a level tone, especially 
when the modulation is to be imitative of certain 
sounds. 

Ills. — " An ancient timepiece says to all : 
' Forever — never ! 
Never — forever ! ' ' 
" From the workshop of the Golden Key there 
issued forth a tinkling sound, so merry and good- 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 37 

humored that it suggested the idea of someone 
working blithely, and made quite pleasant music. 
' Tink, tink, tink, clear as a silver bell.' " 

68. Before a formal quotation the inflection 
should generally be rising. It is falling, however, 
when the quotation is very long or when its for- 
mality is very marked. 

Ills. — " Then Agrippa said unto Paul, ' Thou 
art permitted to speak for thyself.' " 

But — "The speaker closed with the following 
sentiment: " etc., etc. 

69. In delivering a short quotation, the voice 
should be so changed in force, pitch, utterance, 
or some other form of expression as to indicate 
clearly to the hearer that it is a quotation. Hon- 
est reading requires this as fully as honest writing 
required the use of quotation marks in such a 
case. 

III.— ■" On the 30th of April, 1864, President 
Lincoln wrote to General Grant, 'And now, with 
a brave army and a just cause, may God defend 

you ! ' " 

70. The condition of a threat is generally ex- 
pressed by a rising slide. 

III. — "'Let me hear another word from you,' 
said Scrooge, ' and you'll keep your Christmas bv 
losing your situation.'" 



3 8 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

71. Except in rare cases, conjunctions, prepos 
itions, auxiliary verbs, and all merely connective 
words should be read without emphasis and with 
even less force than the other unemphatic words 
of the sentence. The common fault of making 
a strong emphasis on a conjunction coming just 
before a grammatical pause, is due to bad man- 
agement of the breath, and cannot be too care- 
fully avoided. 

///. — "He was faithful, honest, and industrious, 
and, had he received the advantages of a liberal 
education, he certainly would have won high re- 
nown." 

72. Hesitation is expressed by frequent rhe- 
torical pauses. 

A few further suggestions, while not directly 
applying to either emphasis or inflection, may, 
perhaps, be appropriately made in this connec- 
tion. For convenience, they are numbered con- 
secutively with the preceding. 

73. Aim the tone forward. The further for- 
ward the point on the hard palate where the col- 
umn of air from the larynx rebounds, the more 
distinctly and the farther the voice will be heard. 
This is of great importance. Hoarseness and 
" minister's sore throat," as well as indistinct- 
ness, are caused by talking back in the throat. 

74. Try to throw the tone to the back part of 



EMPHASIS AND INFLECTION. 39 

the audience room. The effect of a slight change 
in the position of the head and of the vocal or- 
gans is very easily perceptible. If, in reading an 
essay, the column of breath from the mouth 
strikes downward to the paper, the voice cannot 
be distinctly heard at any great distance. 

75. Never violate nature. There is a kind of 
elocution, so called, which deals in imitations of 
the various sounds of nature, such as the sigh- 
ing of the wind, the babbling of brooks, 
the twitter of birds, etc., etc. This is ventrilo- 
quism rather than legitimate elocution. It is 
often very startling and very popular among 
uncultivated people; but, as Shakspere says, 
"Though it may make the unskillful laugh, it 
cannot but make the judicious grieve." 

In expressing certain common emotions it is 
necessary to use a combination of two or more of 
the principles already given. For convenience in 
reference these are numbered consecutively, in 
tabular form. 

j6. Gayety is expressed by high pitch, fast 
time, etc. 

yj. Pathos is expressed by the semitone, effu- 
sive utterance, etc. 

78. Solemnity is expressed by low pitch, effu- 
sive utterance, etc. 

79. Serenity is expressed by high pitch, soft 
force, and effusive utterance. 



40 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

80. Sublimity is expressed by orotund tone, 
effusive utterance, etc. 



PRONUNCIATION. 

Accuracy of Pronunciation consists in giving tc 
every vowel or consonant the exact sound thai 
according to established authority, belongs to it 
under the circumstances. For example, in the 
words aunt, last, and bat, the letter a has three 
distinct sounds, yet these words are often heard 
pronounced with the same vowel sound. 

In order to simplify the study of accurate 
vowel sounds the following table, the invention 
f Professor Bell, of telephone fame, will be found 
useful as a means, not an end. The sounds are to 
)Q known only by number. The words are added 
; imply to illustrate different ways of spelling the 
jame sound in English. 

THE BELL VOWEL TABLE. 

3ound 1 — Spelled with ee (meet), ea (eat), ey (key), 

ie (chief), ei (receive), i (marine), etc. 
" 2 — Spelled with i (hit), y (hymn), u (busy), 

o (women), e (pretty), etc. 
" 3- 1 — Spelled with a (mate), ei (eight), ai 

(straight), ea (great), ay (may), etc. 
" 4 — Spelled with e (met), u (bury), a (any), 

ea (dead), ai (said), eo (feoff), etc. 



THE BELL VOWEL TABLE. 4* 

.Sound 5 — Spelled with a (fat), ai (plaid), ua 
(aquatic), etc. 

" 6 — Spelled with ea (pearl), e (her), y 
(myrrh), i (sir), u (hurt), o (worse), etc. 

" 7 — Spelled with a (last), — a in monosylla- 
bles before ss, st, sk, sp, etc. 

" 8 — Spelled with a (arm, ah, etc.), au (laun- 
dry), ea (heart), e (sergeant), etc. 
9 — Spelled with u (up), o (come), oe (does), 
00 (blood), — the and a before a con- 
sonant. 

" 10 — Spelled with o (log), a (what), au 
(laurel). 

" 11 — Spelled with a (all), o (form), au (maul), 
aw (awl), etc. 

" 12-14 — Spelled with o (slow), eau (beau), e 
(sew), ou (dough), oe (hoe), eo (yeo- 
man), etc. 

" 13 — Spelled with o (wolf), ou (would), u 
(pull) 00 (book) — to when obscure. 

" 14 — Spelled with o (move), 00 (pool), e 
(grew), u (truce), oe (shoe), etc. 

" 8- 1 — Spelled with i (might), y (my), ai (aisle), 
ei (height), ie (lie), etc. 

" 11- 1 — Spelled with oi (oil), oy (boy). 

" 8-14 — Spelled with ow (now), ou (bough), 
etc. 

" 2-14 — Spelled with u (flute), eau (beauty), e 
(new), eu (feud), ui (suit), etc. 

« y-14— Spelled with u (use, education), etc. 



42 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

It will be seen that sounds 3 and 12 are found 
only in connection with other sounds. The 
" glides," or diphthongs, are so called because, 
in pronouncing them, the sound glides from one 
pure vowel sound to another. Indeed, the sim- 
plest test of a pure vowel sound is that it can be 
made without any movement of the vocal organs. 
(Test this with a mirror, pronouncing first sound 
8 and then sound 8-1, etc.) 

PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. 

In securing accuracy of both vowel and con- 
sonantpronunciation, certain selected principles, 
found in the introductory pages, xli to xlix, of 
Webster s Unabridged Dictionary, are very helpful. 
The other authorities agree with Webster in 
most of these cases. The following are abbrevi- 
ated forms of these principles, suitable for mem- 
orizing; but the pupil should read carefully the 
full statement of each principle in the dictionary. 
The numbers appended are the same as those 
given in Webster. 

5. In monosyllables, and in accented syllables 
before r final or r followed by any other consonant, 
and in the derivatives of such words, a has sound 8. 
But if, under similar circumstances, the r is fol- 
lowed by another r or a vowel a has sound 5. For 
example, in barn and harmful, a has sound 8 ; but 
in harrow and arable, sound 5. 



PRINCIPLES OF PRONUNCIATION. 43 

6. In monosyllables ending in ff, ft, ss, st, sk, sp, 
and a few in nee and nt, a has sound 7 ; e. g. t 
chaff, craft, class, last, ask, clasp, chance, and chant. 

23. In monosyllables, and in accented syllables, 
before r final or r followed by any other conson- 
ant, and in the derivatives of such words, has 
sound 11 ; but if, under similar circumstances, 
the r is followed by another r or a vowel, has 
sound 10; e.g., form and morning have sound 
11 ; but borrozv and oracle, sound 10. 

32. When preceded by r, in an accented syl- 
lable, long u or its equivalent loses its initial y 
sound and has simply sound 14 ; e. g., true, grew, 
fruit, etc., are pronounced exactly as if spelled 
troo, groo, froot, etc. 

42. As a general rule, a and in unaccented 
syllables ending -in a consonant verge toward 
sound 9. This rule is frequently violated in 
pronouncing such words as salvation, immigrant, 
provost, etc. 

48. In an unaccented syllable, final i has more 
commonly sound 2, but it generally has sound 
8-1 in the initial syllables, i, bi, chi, cli, cri, pri, 
and tri ; e. g., in direct, digest, civilization, etc., 
the final i's have sound 2, but in idea, biology, 
chimera, climax, criterion, primary, and triumph, 
the final i's have sound 8-1. 

53. In the terminations ture, dure, and ure, 
Webster gives to the u its distinct y sound. The 



44 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

sound of ch soft and that of j are especially to be 
avoided in such a case ; e.g., not lit era-c hewer, and 
ejewcation, but literatyour and edyoucation. 

65. C has the sound of z in four words, suffice, 
sacrifice, sice, and discern. 

66. Note. — The prefix arch is pronounced like 
ark in archangel and in words from foreign lan- 
guages where the other component part is not 
separately current in English. Otherwise, the ch 
has its soft souud ; e. g., arch(ark)ipelago, etc., 
but arch-bishop, etc. 

82. As a general rule, n has the sound of ng 
before g, k, and the equivalents of k (c, q, ch) ; 
e. g., anger, canker, conquer, and anchor, are pro- 
nounced as if spelled ang-ger, cang-ker, cong-quer, 
and ang-chor. 

91. Webster gives to s the sound of z in the 
initial syllable, dis, of ten words ; disarm, disease, 
disaster, discern, disheir, dismal, dishonest, dis- 
honor, disown, dissolve. 

104. X before an accented vowel has the 
sound of gz, otherwise that of ks ; e. g., exile 
(eksile), but example (egzample). 

TONE PRODUCTION. 

Purity of tone consists in freedom from all 
objectionable qualities. A pure tone is neither 
nasal, oral, falsetto, nor guttural. 



PHYSICAL EXERCISES. 45 

Voice is a particular variety of sound pro- 
duced by the vocal or palatal conformation. 
Unevenness of the roof of the mouth, a small 
throat, etc., are not to be overcome by education. 

In trying to secure purity, it must not be for- 
gotten that the production of any tone by the 
vocal organs is just as purely a mechanical opera- 
tion as is the production of any musical note by 
a cabinet organ. The lungs correspond to the 
bellows, the vocal chords to the reeds, the hard 
palate to the sounding board, etc. The first 
care, therefore, must be to put the vocal machin- 
ery into good working order. The lungs must 
be free to expand fully, unimpeded by the 
broad pectoral muscles that overlie them 
or by any external pressure of the clothing. 
The speaker must also learn to use each entire 
lung in breathing and not to use simply the tops 
of these organs as is so often done. The follow- 
ing exercises, if practiced carefully and continu- 
ously, will add greatly to the power and to the 
healthy action of the lungs. 

PHYSICAL EXERCISES. 

I. Military or Preliminary Position. — Heels 
together, feet at an angle of 45 , limbs straight 
and hips in a line with them, shoulders even, 
arms dropped easily at the sides, chest thrown 



46 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

forward, abdomen and chin drawn back, eyes 
fixed in front and looking in a level line. 

2. Chest Percussion. — Bring the elbows nearly 
to a level with the shoulders, fill the lungs slowly, 
and beat the chest vigorously with, the open 
palms while holding the brejxth. 

3. Horizontal Fore-arm Movement. — Elbows at 
natural height and drawn backward as far as pos- 
sible, fore-arms horizontal and parallel, hands 
clenched with fingers upward. Fill the lungs 
slowly and bring the hands forward, palms 
downward, on a level with the eyes. Then re- 
turn to the first position vigorously and repeat 
the whole before exhaling. 

4. Vertical Fore-arm Movement. — Elbows at 
natural height, fore-arms vertical, hands clenched 
tightly and fingers turned outward. Fill the 
lungs slowly and bring the open palms before the 
eyes at arm's length and on a level with the eyes. 
Then return to first position vigorously and repeat 
before exhaling. 

5. Shoulder Movement. — Move the shoulders, in 
alternation, easily up and down. 

These exercises must not be used immediately 
after eating, nor should they be used in an at- 
mosphere very cool or seriously vitiated. In 
these and all such exercises, the breath must be 
taken in slowly in order to fill the lungs ; for 
the interior cells of these organs closely re- 



VOCAL EXERCISES. 47 

semble those of a sponge, and they can there- 
fore no more be filled instantaneously than a dry 
sponge can be filled with water by simply plung- 
ing it in and quickly removing it. 

VOCAL EXERCISES. 

Next to weak or half-expanded lungs, the 
most serious obstacle to purity of tone is the 
sadly common habit of closing the throat while 
speaking, allowihg^t^e muscles of the throat to 
act just as in swallowing, when they should lie 
perfectly quiescent. This " squeezes" the tones, 
so to speak, and produces the unpleasant oral 
quality so often heard. The following exercises, 
if faithfully practiced, will accustom the throat 
muscles not to interfere in tone production. 

1. Take the tongue between the thumb and 
finger with the handkerchief, pull it out as far as 
possible without pain, open the mouth wide and 
sing the chromatic scale downward on sound 3-1 
from G above middle to high C, prolonging each 
note softly. Do not allow the sound to degener- 
ate into 8 or 9. This will be the tendency. 
Compel yourself also to make a clear note. 

2. Hold the mouth open as wide as possible 
and watch the back walls of the soft palate with 
a mirror, holding them apart as in smiling. In 
this way intone sound 8 slowly down the chro- 
matic scale from middle C to E below. 



48 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

3." Walk about the room, pressing the hands 
against the side muscles and at the same time 
moving the head easily back and forth. This re- 
laxes the throat muscles. 



EXERCISES IN FLEXIBILITY. 

Flexibility of tone consists in such a mastery 
over the vocal organs by the will as will cause 
them to respond easily and instantaneously to 
the slightest change of emotion. The simplest 
illustration is found in the ability of the good 
speaker to make the rising, falling, and circum- 
flex inflections when and where he pleases, and 
in his control of his emphasis. All inflection and 
most emphasis is a matter of variation in pitch. 
Flexibility of tone is also essential to a thorough 
command of the different kinds of tone quality, 
utterance, pitch, etc. Hence these exercises. 

1. Taking the syllable ah, intone the musical 
notes C, D, E, F ; E, D, C. 

2. G, A, B, C ; B, A, G. 

3. Scale (A as in art) ; middle C to C above. 

4. Chromatic scale (A as in art) ; middle C 
to C above. 

5. Chromatic scale (A as in art) ; up and 
down rapidly upon one breath. 

6. Trill the scale. 

7. Same with three notes. 



EXERCISES IN FLEXIBILITY. 49 

8. Sing scale in different keys. 

9. Intone the sentence, " Will you go ? " and 
gradually bring it into the speaking voice, pre- 
serving the same key, from middle C down to E 
below. 

10. Carry the same sentence from middle C 
up to middle E. 

11. Use all the interjections upon different 
keys, trying to color them with different emotions. 

12. Count from 1 to 20 or more, passing reg- 
ularly upward but rising on each successive count 
less than half 'a musical interval. 

13. Reverse the process down the scale. 

14. Count twenty, making falling inflections 
on only the numbers successively in each horizon- 
tal line of the following table. 

.. 3 ... 7 .... 12 18 . 20 

. 2 . . 5 .... 10 .... 15 ... 19 . 
1 . . 4 . 6 . . 9 . . . 13 . . . 17 18 . . 

.2 8 . . 11 . . 14 . 16 . . 19 . 

... 4 ... 8 9 .. 12 ... 16 ... 20 

15. The same as 14 but with rising inflections 
on only the numbers given. 

16. The same, emphasizing only the numbers. 

17. Run up and down the simple musical 
scale one octave on sound 8, making a rising in- 
flection on each note. 

18. The same with falling inflections. 



50 THE ART OF READING ALOUD, 

BREATHING EXERCISE. 

In many cases, such as the delivery of a long 
interrogative sentence, for example, flexibility 
depends mainly on the management of the breath. 
The following exercises will be found very help- 
ful to this end. 

Note. — Always practice the physical exercises as 
a preliminary to these. 

i. Deep Breathing. — Stand in an easy but per- 
fectly erect position, with one foot advanced a 
little beyond the other and the weight of the 
body resting on the rear foot, place the arms 
akimbo, with the fingers pressing on the abdom- 
inal muscles in front and the thumbs on the dor- 
sal muscles on each side of the spine. Throw the 
chest forward and inhale and exhale very slowly 
and easily ten times in succession, filling each 
lung to its base every time. 

2. Effusive Breathing. — Keeping the first 
position, fill the lungs and exhale as slowly as 
possible in a continuous whisper of the letter //. 
Make the h audible merely to yourself and try 
gradually to increase the time of exhalation by 
testing with a watch. 

3. Expulsive Breathing. — Fill the lungs as 
before and exhale with the whispered h in dis- 
tinct expulsions like that of a moderate whispered 
cough. Count the expulsions and try gradually 



BREATHING EXERCISE. 5 1 

to increase the number made after one inhala- 
tion. 

In exercises 2 and 3 the object is to learn to 
economize the breath. That is, to use no more than 
is positively necessary to make any given sound. 
No air current should be perceptible before the 
mouth in speaking. Test this with a piece of 
tissue paper or a candle blaze, on these exercises. 

4. Explosive Breathing. — Fill the lungs as 
before and expel the breath in asudden expulsion 
on the whispered h. Two expulsions are all that 
can ordinarily be made after one inhalation. 

5. Side Action Without Breath. — Taking the 
military position, place the open palms as high 
and as far back as possible on the ribs, so that 
the hands inclose the angle of the ribs toward 
the spine. Then work the elbows gradually 
backward and forward from the first position and 
knead the ribs upward and downward. This 
renders flexible the intercostal muscles and thus 
removes the last impediment to the free action 
of the lungs. 

6. Stand in military position. Place the hands 
as high and as far back as possible at the turn of 
the ribs. Send out the breath in a sigh. Inhale 
slowly and audibly through a small aperture 
between the lips, the sound produced being the 
consonant f. Let the rib-muscles that pull open 
the rib cage remain passive during this exercise, 



52 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

and slowly fill the lungs. Having inhaled all the 
air possible in this position, lift the shoulders 
and inhale until the lungs are completely filled. 
Retain the breath for ten seconds, using effort, if 
need be ; resist the inclination to expel the air 
immediately, for the object of this exercise is as 
much to gain control over the breath-expelling 
muscles of the thorax as to enlarge the air-cells; 
and every surrender to the inclination renders 
this more difficult. The time of holding the 
breath is to be gradually increased to thirty or 
forty seconds, but begin with ten, or even five 
seconds, and gradually increase time of holding. 
Very slowly exhale through a small aperture 
between the teeth, using the consonant sound sh 
(as in shall). Repeat the above movement, 
omitting the sigh, but not so thoroughly as at 
first, the inhaling, holding, and exhaling taking 
less time ; inhale through the nostrils, exhale in 
a sigh, and resume ordinary breathing. 

Practice the above but twice a day, in the mid- 
dle of the forenoon and the afternoon — repeating 
the exercise each time. Never practice a breath- 
ing exercise within an hour before or after eating. 
If this rule be not observed, indigestion is almost 
sure to be induced. See that the room is well 
warmed and well aired, for the breath is taken 
through the mouth partly for the purpose of 
regulating the escape by the ear (the pupil list-. 



EXERCISES FOR ORG A A'S OF AR TICULA TIOX. 5 3 

ening and so determining the impelling force), 
and partly because it is easier for the pupil to 
regulate the aperture when inhaling through the 
mouth than when inhaling through the nose. 

EXERCISES FOR ORGANS OF ARTICULATION. 

i. Drop the jaw lazily, energy withdrawn. 

2. Move jaw from side to side, energy with- 
drawn. 

3. Throw jaw forward and back. 

4. Repeat rapidly, ik, ip, it. 

5. Repeat rapidly several times in succession 
ma 8 ; pa 8 ; be 1 ; by 8 ' 1 ; bo 12 " 14 , ba 3 ' 1 ; me 1 . 

6. Ah goo ; repeat rapidly several times in 
succession, using cheek muscles. 

7. Force breath through lips, for strengthen- 
ing lip and cheek muscles, those muscles resisting. 

8. Run out tongue ; draw back and touch the 
uvula, or " palate." 

9. Fold back tip of tongue with the aid of the 
teeth. 

10. Fold over sides of tongue. 

11. Groove tongue. 

12. Lapping movement of tongue. 

13. E-dee, e do ; repeat rapidly. 

14. Trill voice r. 

15. Trill voice r, running the scale. 

16. Decompose tongue ; i. e. } take all energy 
out of it, 



54 THE ART OF READING ALOUD 

17. Repeat rapidly several times in succession : 
pre, pra, pri, pro, trilling the r. 

18. Repeat rapidly several times in succession : 
le, lay, li, lo. 

19. Repeat rapidly several times in succession : 
do, did, did, did, did, do. 

20. Repeat exercises 17, 18, and 19 on succes- 
sive notes of the scale. 

21. Place two fingers edgewise between the 
teeth, the tip of the tongue resting against the 
back of the lower teeth, and articulate i as in 
ill and e as in ell, keeping the tongue depressed. 

22. Three fingers between teeth, tongue as in 
21; articulate a as in art, u as in pull, o as in on. 

23. Dr. Guilmette's Vocal Chart, each ele- 
ment distinctly articulated in a wJiisper. 

24. Vowel Chart distinctly articulated with 
voice. 

25. Vowel Chart alternately i-e, i-u, i-a, i-o, 
with voice. This exercise is especially helpful 
in breaking up such slovenly merging of words as 
" lemmego," " Isawim," " letteralone," "a coasting 
pilotee," "notatall," etc. 

DR. GUILMETTE'S VOCAL CHART. 
Permutations of the Five Organic Vowel Sounds. 
2 4 13 8 10 

I E U A O. 

(The numbers indicate the sounds according to the Bell Vowel 
Table, p. 40.) 



DR. GUILMETTE'.S VOCAL CHART. 



55 



N. B. — Let there be a prompt and firm molding 
of the sounds which Dr. Guilmette represents by 
these characters. 



I. 



II. 



III. 





e 


u 


a 







u 


e 


a 







a 


e 


u 







e 


u 





a 




u 


e 


o 


a 




a 


e 


o 


u 




e 


a 


u 







u 


a 


e 







a 


u 


e 


o 




e 


a 


o 


u 




u 


a 


o 


e 




a 


u 


o 


e 




e 





u 


a 




u 


o 


e 


a 




a 


o 


e 


u 




e 




IV 


a 


u 




u 


o 
V. 


a 


e 




a 




VI. 


u 


e 




o 


e 


u 


a 


e 




u 


a 





e 


u 


i 


a 







o 


e 


a 


u 


e 




Ll 


o 


a 


e 


u 


i 


o 


a 




o 


u 


e 


a 


e 




a 


u 





e 


u 


a 


i 


o 







u 


a 


e 


e 




a 


o 


u 


e 


u 


a 





i 




o 


a 


e 


u 


e 




o 


u 


a 


e 


u' 


o 


i 


a 


1 


o 


a 


u 


e 


e 







a 


u 


e 


u 


o 


a 


i 






VII 








VIII. 








IX. 






e 


a 


i 


u 


o 


e 


o 


i 


u 


a 


u 




e 


a 


o 


e 


a 


i 


o 


u 


e 





i 


a 


u 


u 




e 


o 


a 


e 


a 


u 


i 


o 


e 


o 


u 


i 


a 


u 




a 


e 


o 


e 


a 


u 





i 


e 


o 


u 


a 


i 


u 




a 


o 


e 


e 


a 





i 


u 


e 





a 


i 


u 


u 




a 


o 


e 


e 


a 




X. 


u 


i 


e 


o 


a 
XI. 


u 


i 


u 




o 
XII 


a 


e 


u 


e 


i 





a 


u 


a 


i 





e 


u 


o 


i 


e 


a 


u 


e 


i 


a 


o 


u 


a 


i 


e 


o 


u 


o 


i 


a 


e 


u 


e 


a 


i 


o 


u 


a 


e 


i 


o 


u 


o 


e 


i 


a 


u 


e 


a 





i 


LI 


a 


e 





i 


u 


o 


e 


a 


i 


u 


e 





i 


a 


U 


a 





i 


e 


u 


o 


a 


i 


e 


u 


e 





a 


i 


11 


a 


o 


e 


i 


u 


o 


a 


e 


i 



56 



THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 



XIII. 



XIV. 



XV. 



a 




e 


u 


o 




a 


e 


i 


u 


o 




a 


u 


i 


e 


o 


a 




e 


o 


u 




a 


e 


i 


o 


u 




a 


u 


i 


o 


e 


a 




u 


e 


o 




a 


e 


u 


i 


o 




a 


u 


e 


i 


o 


a 




u 


o 


e 




a 


e 


u 


o 


i 




a 


u 


e 





i 


a 




o 


e 


u 




a 


e 


o 


i 


u 




a 


u 


o 


i 


e 


a 




o 


u 


e 




a 


e 


o 


u 


i 




a 


u 


o 


e 


i 




XVI 










XVII. 








XVIII. 




a 


o 


i 


e 


u 




o 


i 


e 


u 


a 







e 


i 


u 


a 


a 


o 


i 


u 


e 




o 


i 


e 


a 


u 




o 


e 


i 


a 


u 


a 


o 


e 


i 


u 




o 


i 


u 


e 


a 







e 


e 


i 


a 


a 


o 


e 


u 


i 




o 


i 


u 


a 


e 




o 


e 


u 


a 


i 


a 


o 


u 


i 


e 




o 


e 


a 


i 


u 




o 


e 


a 


i 


u 


a 


o 


u 


e 


i 







i 


a 


u 


i 







e 


a 


u 


i 










XIX 












XX 


















o 


u 


i 


e 


a 







a 


i 


e 


u 














o 


u 


i 


a 


e 







a 


i 


u 


e 














o 


u 


e 


i 


a 







a 


e 


i 


u 














o 


u 


e 


a 


i 




o 


a 


e 


u 


i 














o 


u 


a 


i 


e 




o 


a 


u 


i 


e 














o 


u 


a 


e 


i 







a 


u 


e 


i 









DR. GUILMETTE S EXERCISES ON THE PERMU- 
TATIONS OF THE LABIALS, LINGUALS, AND 
LARYNGEALS. 



T 


L 


K 


R 


L 


T 


K 


R 


>K 


R 


T 


L 


T 


L 


R 


K 


L 


T 


R 


K 


K 


R 


L 


T 


L 


K 


T 


R 


R 


L 


T 


K 


R 


T 


L 


K 


L 


K 


R 


T 


R 


L 


K 


T 


R 


T 


K 


L 


K 


L 


T 


R 


T 


R 


L 


K 


R 


K 


T 


L 


K 


L 


R 


T 


T 


R 


K 


L 


R 


K 


L 


T 


T 


K 


L 


R 


K 


T 


L 


R 


L 


R 


T 


K 


T 


L 


K 


R 


K 


T 


R 


L 


L 


R 


K 


T 



LABIALS, UNGUALS, AND LARYNGEALS. 57 



p 


F 


B 


G 


F 


P 


G 


B 


B 


G 


P 


F 


p 


F 


G 


B 


B 


F 


G 


P 


G 


P 


F 


B 


F 


B 


P 


G 


P 


G 


F 


B 


G 


P 


B 


F 


F 


B 


G 


P 


P 


G 


B 


F 


G 


F 


B 


P 


B 


F 


P 


G 


B 


P 


F 


G 


G 


B 


P 


F 


P 


B 


F 


G 


B 


P 


G 


F 


G 


B 


F 


P 


P 


B 


G 


F 


G 


F 


P 


B 


F 


G 


P 


B 


F 


P 


B 


G 


B 


G 


F 


P 


F 


G 


B 


P 


P 


T 


K 


B 


T 


K 


P 


B 


K 


T 


B 


P 


P 


T 


B 


K 


T 


K 


B 


P 


K 


T 


P 


B 


B 


K 


P 


T 


T 


B 


P 


K 


K 


B 


P 


T 


B 


K 


T 


P 


T 


B 


K 


P 


K 


B 


T 


P 


B 


P 


T 


K 


P 


B 


T 


K 


K 


P 


T 


B 


B 


P 


K 


T 


P 


B 


K 


T 


K 


P 


B 


T 



PKTB TPKB BTPK 
PKBT TPBK BTKP 

26. Take the vocal positions for the conso- 
nants in the above table slowly, forcibly, and 
silently. 

27. Give the consonants in an active whisper. 

28. Give the consonants with vowels, explo- 
sively, on the following syllables : 

Pa, fa, ta, la, ka. 
Peer, feer, teer, leer, keer. 
Pair, fair, tair, lair, kair. 
Poor, foor, toor, loor, koor. 
Pore, fore, tore, lore, kore. 

29. Repeat the consonants b, d, g, v, twice. 



5$ THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

30 Repeat forcibly several times in succession, 
vi 2 , gi, di, vi ; ve 1 , ge 1 , de 1 , ve 1 . 

31. Pronounce sharply the following series of 
words, taking especial care not to allow the 
slovenly intervention of a vowel between the 
consonant sounds ; e. g. y " da-low " for blow. 

Blame, bleed, blow, blest. Claim, clean, clime, 
close. Flame, flee, fly, flit. Glare, gleam, glide, 
gloss. Place, plea, ply, please. Slay, sleep, slide, 
slew. Spleen, splice, splay. Brave, bread, brink. 
Crave, creep, cried, crust. Drain, dream, dry, 
drop. Frame, free, fro, freeze. Grain, green, 
grind, ground. Pray, preach, pry, proud. Spray, 
spring, sprung, sprang. Trace, tree, try, trust, 
track, tread, trip, true. Stray, street, strife, 
strength. Shrine, shroud, shrub, shriek. Small, 
smite, smote. Snare, sneer, snow, snug. Space, 
speed, spike, spear. Stay, steer, stile, stop. Bold, 
hailed, tolled. Elph, wolf, gulph, sylph. Milk, 
silk, bulk, hulk. Elm, helm, whelm, film. Help, 
gulp, Alp, scalp. Falls, tells, toils. Fault, melt, 
bolt, hilt. Elve, delve, revolve. Maim'd, claim'd, 
climb'd, gloom'd. Gleams, streams, climes, stems. 
And, band, hand, land, lined, moaned. Gains, 
dens, gleans, suns. Bank, dank, drink, link. 
Dance, glance, hence, ounce. Ant, want, gaunt, 
point. Barb, orb, herb, curb, barb'd, orb'd, 
curb'd, disturb'd. Hard, herd, hir'd, gourd, 
bar'd. Hark, lark, jerk, mark'd, jerk'd, work'd. 



EXERCISES IN ARTICULATION. 59 

Arm, harm, arm'd, harm'd. Earn, learn, scorn, 
worn. Earn'd, scorn'd, burn'd, turn'd. Hearse, 
verse, force, burst, first, worst, vers'd, forc'd, 
hors'd. Bars, bears, hears. Mart, dart, start. 
Carve, curve, serve, curv'd, serv'd, starv'd. Chasm, 
schism, prism, criticism, witticism, patriotism. 
Reas'n, seas'n, ris'n, chos'n. Asp, clasp, grasp, 
wasp, lisp, crisp. Vast, mast, lest, dost, must, 
lost, mist ; pass'd, bless'd, gloss'd, miss'd. Makes, 
quakes, likes, looks, streaks, rocks, crooks. Act, 
fact, respect, reject ; wak'd, lik'd, look'd, rock'd. 
Waft, oft, left, sift, quaff'd, scoff'd, laugh'd. Apt, 
wept, crept ; sipp'd, supp'd, slop'd, pip'd, popp'd. 
Op'n, rip'n, weap'n, happ'n. Tak'n, wak'n, 
weak 'n, tok'n, drunk'n. Sadd'n, gladd'n, lad'n, 
burd'n, hard'en, gard'n. Grav'n, heav'n, riv'n, 
ov'n, ev'n, giv'n, wov'n. Bright n, tight'n, whit'n. 
Call'st, heal'st, till'st, fill'st, roll'st, pull'st. Arm'st, 
charm'st, form'st, harm'st. Can'st, run'st, gain'st. 
Durst, worst, erst, first, barr'st, hir'st. Midst, 
call'dst, fill'dst, roll'dst. Heard'st, guard'st, re- 
ward'st, discard'st. Arm'dst, harm'dst, form'dst, 
charm'dst. Learn'dst, scorn'dst, burn'dst, 
turn'dst. Able, feeble, bible, double; troubl'd, 
babbl'd, bubbl'd, doubl'd. Tripl'd, toppl'd, 
dappl'd, crippl'd. Marl, hurl, whirl; world, 
hurl'd, whirl'd, furl'd. Hang'st, sing'st, wrong'st, 
wrong'd, hang'd ; wrong'dst, throng'dst. 

Temporarily, obediently, articulately, elemen- 



60 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

tary, chronological, apocalyptic, spiritually. Up 
the high hill he heaved a huge round stone. The 
supply lasts still. It is the first step that costs. 
The deed was done in broad day. He gave him 
good advice, which he did not take. 



WORDS OFTEN MISPRONOUNCED. 

{Worcester and Webster agree on most of these 
words.) 

Agape, Alkali, Aroma, Architecture, Access, 
Acclimate, Acoustics, Adamantean, Adverse, 
Altercate, Aggrandize, Almond, Alpine, Aquiline, 
Archipelago, Area, Audacious, Avalanche, 
Avaunt, Angelus. 

Bitumen, Bosom, Butcher, Ballast, Badinage, 
Bastile, Bath, Bedizen, Beneath, Benzine, Be- 
troth, Bison, Blatant, Blouse, Bouquet, Brooch, 
Biology. ' 

Canine, Caret, Clangor, Concave, Condolence, 
Cooper, Coterie, Cough, Caldron, Caoutchouc, 
Cassimere, Cayenne, Cerements, Chicanery, 
Chinese, Chivalric, Cloth, Combatant, Comely, 
Cognizance, Complaisance, Comrade, Concave, 
Confiscate, Conservator, Contemplate, Courtesy, 
Cyclopean, Cuirass. 

Deficit, Design, Disaster, Detail, Desist, Disarm, 
Diverse, Dominie, Dost, Doth, Dromedary, Dis- 
solve, Demise. 



WORDS OF TEX MISPRONOUNCED. 61 

Exemplary, Exordium, Extrude, Equation, 
Erasure, Erudite, Esquire, Exude, Excursion, 
Exorcise, Extant, Eclat, Elysium, Encore, Ennui, 
Equable, Evangelical, Excise, Exhale. 

Falchion, Falcon, Faro, Fealty, Fecundate, 
Feline, Ferrule, Fidelity, Fierce, Finale, Finance, 
Flageolet, Florin, Forehead, Forge, Forthwith, 
Franchise, Frontier, Frost, Fruit, Fulsome. 

Gone, Gasp, Gigantic, Gallows, Gamboge, Gas- 
ometer, Genius, Gherkin, Ghoul, Giaour, Gibber- 
ish, Gondola, Gooseberry, Gourd, Granery, Grease, 
Grievous, Grimace, Groat, Grovel. 

Hunger, Half, Halibut, Harass, Haunch, 
Hearth, Heaven, Hegira, Heinous, Herculean, 
Hesitate, Highwayman, Homage, Horrid, Horo- 
loge, Hound, Hurrah, Hussar, Huzza, Hygiene, 
Hymeneal, Hypochondriac. # 

Inquiry, Idol, Impious, Improvise, Inamorata, 
Indicatory, Indisputable, Interlocutor, Intrigue, 
Irrevocable, Issue. 

Jasmine, Javelin, Jugular. 

Literature, Luxurious, Last, Learnedly, Lang- 
Syne, Languor, Laniate, Lapel, Larum, Lauda- 
num, Laundry, Legend, Legislative, Legume, 
Lenient, Lethargic, Levee, Lever, Lichen, Lien, 
Literati, Livelong, Livre, Lyceum. 

Magazine, Mandarin, Manes, Maniacal, Mari- 
time, Matrix, Matron, Mattress, Measure, Medi- 
cine, Mediocre, Memoir, Mesmerize, Metamor- 



62 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

phose, Mezzotint, Michaelmas, Minotaur, Minute, 
Misconstrue, Miseltoe, Moiety, Monad, Myrmi- 
don. 

Naive, Naivete, Nape, Nausea, Nauseous, 
Necrology, Nescience, Nephew, Nicotine, Nomad, 
Nomenclature, Noose, Nuptial. 

Oasis, Obligatory, Occult, Onyx, Opponent, 
Ordeal, Ornate, Orthoepy, Overt. 

Provost, Pageant, Palestine, Palfrey, Paraffine, 
Participle, Patois, Patriot, Patron, Pecuniary, 
Pedestal, Pedal (adj.), Pellucin, Penitentiary, 
Peremptory, Perfume, Periphrasis, Permit (n.), 
Peruke, Petrel, Phalanx, Pharmacopseia, Phil- 
ology, Photography, Piano, Piazza, Piquant, 
Placard, Plague, Plait, Plateau, Plebeian, Plethora, 
Portent, Posthumous, Prebend, Precedent (n.), 
Portrait, Predecessor, Prelacy, Pristine, Probity, 
Profuse, Prolix, Prophecy, Prosaic, Protege, Pro- 
thonotary, Pronunciation. 

Quarrel, Quoth, Quinine. 

Raillery, Rational, Rapine, Recess, Rechabite, 
Recitative, Repartee, Research, Retail, Revolt, 
Reveille, Rise (n.), Robust, Romance, Roof, 
Rook, Route, Ruffian, Rumor. 

Sagacious, Salve, Sardonyx, Sarsaparilla, Satur- 
nine, Satyr, Saunter, Scalene, Scallop, Scathed, 
Schedule, Scrivener, Scrupulous, Scrutinize, Seda- 
tive, Seine, Sentinel, Sepulture, Sequestration, 
Several, Shew, Shone, Shrewd, Shriek, Simony, 



WORDS OF TEX MISPRONOUNCED. 63 

Simultaneous, Sinecure, Syrup, Sleek, Slough, 
Sociality, Soiree, Sojourn, Solder, Solecism, Soot, 
Sorry, Sough, Souse (vb.), Spaniel, Spheroid, 
Specious, Spinach, Splenetic, Squalor, Staff, Statu 
quo, Stirrup, Strata, Strew, Suasory, Suavity, Sub- 
jected, Subpoena, Subtile, Suffice, Suite, Summary, 
Summoned, Surtout, Surveillance, Swarthy, Swin- 
gel, Sybiline. 

Tabernacle, Tableau, Tartaric, Tassel, Taunt, 
Telegraph, Tenacious, Tenet, Thanksgiving, 
Therefore, Tortoise, Toward, Trachea, Tranquil, 
Transition, Travel, Tremor, Tribune, Tripartite, 
Therewith, Three-legged, Three-pence, Threw, 
Thyme, Tiara, Ticklish, Tiny, Tomato, Topo- 
graphical, Trivial, Trochee, Troth, Trough, Trow, 
Truculent, Turbine, Tube, Truths. 

Ultimatum, Unctuous, Underneath, Under- 
signed, Unguent, Unison, Uranus, Usage, Usu- 
fruct, Usury, Uxorious. 

Valet, Varioloid, Vehement, Venial, Vermi- 
celli, Vignette, Vindicative, Violoncello, Virile, 
Viscount, Visor, Vitriol, Voyage. 

Want, Wassail, Whereof, Which, Wife's, Whisk, 
Winged, Wiseacre, Withe, Wound (n.), Won't 
(vb.). 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL 



CHARLES DICKENS. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 



STAVE I. 
marley's ghost. 

1,27,43,27 MARLEY was dead, to begin with. 
43,31,27 There is no doubt whatever about that. 

43.30 The register of his burial was signed by 
63,63,63 the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, 
27,43,27 and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. 5 

1,53 And Scrooge's name was good upon 

43.31 'Change for anything he choose to put his 
43,27 hand to. 

31,1,27 Old Marley was as dead as a door- 
nail. 10 
42,31 Scrooge never painted out old Marley's 
27,30,27 name. There it stood years afterward, 
27 above the warehouse door — Scrooge & 
27,43 Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge 
27,31,43 & Marley. Sometimes people new tothe^ 
31,44,43 business called Scrooge Scrooge, and 
44,27,40 sometimes Marley, but he answered to 
43,27,43 both names. It was all the same to 
64 him. 

67 



68 THE ART OF READ IX G ALOUD. 

No warmth could warm, no wintry 28 ' 
weather chill him. No wind that blew 31,1,27,57,31 
was bitterer than he, no falling snow was 27,31 
more intent upon its purpose, no pelting 27 

5 rain less open to entreaty. 31,27 

Nobody ever stopped him in the street 53,43,31 

to say, with gladsome looks, " My dear 28,68 

Scrooge, how are you ? When will you 54,64 

come to see me ? " No beggars implored 64,43 

10 him to bestow a trifle no children asked 64,43,1 
him what it was o'clock, no man or 6 4 
woman ever once in all his life inquired 56,31 
the way to such and such a place of 43,31 
Scrooge. Even the blind men's dogs ap- 64,43,31 

i 5 peared to know him; and when they saw 27 
him coming on, would tug their owners 28,40 
into doorways and up courts ; and then 30,27 
would wag their tails as though they said, 30,40,68 
" No eye at all is better than an evil eye, 43,31,43,27 

2» dark master! " 54 

But what did Scrooge care ? It was 47,43 
the very thing he liked. 43,27 

Once upon a time — of all the good days 42,28 
in the year, on Christmas Eve — old 28,28,1 

25 Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. 31,31,27 
It was cold, bleak, biting weather — foggy 28,28,27,43 
withal — and he could hear the people in 27 
the court outside go wheezing up and 31,40 
down, beating their hands upon their 6 3 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 60 

1,63,1 breasts, and stamping their feet upon the 

28,43,27 pavement stones, to warm them. The 

43,27,43,27 city clocks had only just gone three, but 

43.27 it was quite dark already — it had not 
59,43,27.43 been light all day — and candles were flar-5 

ing in the windows of the neighboring 

63,30,40 offices, like ruddy smears upon the pal- 

27,43 pable brown air. The fog came pouring 

27 in at every chink and keyhole, and was so 

28.28 dense without, that, although the court ic 
40,43,31 was of the narrowest, the houses opposite 

27 were mere phantoms. 
42,1,1,43 The door of Scrooge's counting-house 

27 was open, that he might keep his eye upon 
43,27,28,40 his clerk, who, in a dismal little cell be- 15 

28.43.27 yond, was copying letters. Scrooge had 
43,27,43 a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was 
43,28,43 so very much smaller that it looked like 

40,30,43,27 one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, 
43,27 for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own 20 
27,49 room ; and so surely as the clerk came in 

28 with the shovel, the master predicted that 
30,27 it would be necessary for them to part. 

31 Wherefore the clerk' put on his white com- 
63,43,31 forter, and tried to warm himself at the 2 - 

43.27.28 candle ; in which effort, not being a man 
43,28,27 of strong imagination, he failed. 

69,55,54 "A merry Christmas, uncle ! God save 
43,55,50,27 you ! " cried a cheerful voice. It was the 



7° THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came 43,27 
upon him so quickly that this was the 43,31 
first intimation he had of his approach. 43.27 
" Bah ! " said Scrooge. " Humbug! " 5,11,55,50,5s 

5 He had so heated himself with rapid 42,43,31 
walking in the fog and frost, this nephew 28,59 
of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow ; 28,40,27 
his face was ruddy and handsome ; his 31,27 
eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked 31,27 

i° again. 27 

*" Christmas a humbug, uncle?" said 55,31,54,50 
Scrooge's nephew. " You don't mean 27 
that, I am sure ? " 43,27,52 

" I do," said Scrooge. " Merry Christ- 4,11,27,27 

15 mas ! What right have you to be merry ? 55,40,47,53 
Out upon merry Christmas ! What's 43,55 
Christmas time to you but a time for pay- 47,30,43 
ing bills without money ; a time for 43,30,27 
finding yourself a year older, and not an 30,43 

20 hour richer; a time for balancing your 43,30 
books and having every item in 'em 43,30,43 
through a round dozen of months pre- 43,30 
sented dead against you ? If I could 27,49 
work my will," said Scrooge, indignantly, 43,50,28 

25 " every idiot who goes about with ' Merry 11,31,40 
Christmas ' on his lips should be boiled 28,43 
with his own pudding, and buried with a 27,43,30 
stake of holly run through his heart. He 43,27,15 
should ! " 55 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 7* 

40.54.55,50 " Uncle ! " pleaded the nephew. 
55,54.50 " Nephew ! " returned the uncle, sternly, 
43,27 " keep Christinas in your own way, and let 
43,43 me keep it in mine." 
15,55,28,50 " Keep it ! " repeated Scrooge's nephew. 5 

43,27 " But you don't keep it." 
11,43.30,30 "Let me leave it alone, then," said 
2743,43 Scrooge. " Much good may it do you ! 

43.27 Much good it has ever done you !" 

10.43 " There are many things from which 1 10 
28 might have derived good, by which I 
43,30,27 have not profited, I dare say," returned 

27.43.27 the nephew, " Christmas among the rest. 
43 But I am sure I have always thought of 

28.28 Christmas time, when it has come round 15 
43,59,43 — apart from the veneration due to its 

30 sacred name and origin, if anything be- 

43.40.28 longing to it can be apart from that — as 
43,27,63 a good time ; a kind, forgiving, charitable, 
51,27,43 pleasant time; the only time I know of, 20 

30 in the long calendar of the year, when 

31 men and women seem by one consent to 

43.27 open their shut-up hearts freely, and to 
43,31 think of people below them as if they 

43 really were fellow-passengers to the 25 
2731 grave, and not another race of creatures 
27 bound on other journeys. And, there- 
30,54,49 fore, uncle, though it has never put a 

43.28 scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I be- 



'2 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

lieve that it has done me good, and will 43,27,43 
do me good ; and I say, God bless it ! " 27,40,55 
The clerk involuntarily applauded. 43-31,27 
Becoming immediately sensible of the 
5 impropriety, he poked the fire, and ex- 28,43,27 
tinguished the last frail spark forever. 43,30,30,2- 

" Let me hear another sound from you" 70,11 
said Scrooge, " and you'll keep your 50,43 
Christmas by losing your situation ! 31,43,27 
o You're quite a powerful speaker, sir," he 40,29,54^ 
added, turning to his nephew. " I wonder 27 
you don't go into Parliament." 4 o 

" Don't be angry, uncle. Come! Dine 42,54,43 
with us to-morrow." 27 

5 Scrooge said that he would see him ■ ; 72 

yes, indeed he did. He went the whole 53,15,27 
length of the expression, and said that 27 
he would see him in that extremity 31 
first. 27 

o "But why?" cried Scrooge's nephew. 47,50,27 
" Why ? " 47 

" Why did you get married?" said 47,",so 
Scrooge. 2 7 

"Because I fell in love." 40,31,43 

5 " Because you fell in love ! " growled 40,5,55 
Scrooge, as if that were the only one thing 27 
in the world more ridiculous than a merry 43,30,43 
Christmas. " Good-afternoon ! " 27,55,11 

" Nay, uncle, but you never came to 30,54 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 73 

43,27,47 see me before that happened. Why give 

43.27 it as a reason for not coming now? " 
65.55-50 " Good-afternoon," said Scrooge. 

44.28 " I want nothing from you ; I ask noth- 
43.44,47 ing of you ; why cannot we be friends ? " 5 
65,55,27 " Good-afternoon," said Scrooge. 

40,30,30 " I am sorry, with all my heart, to find 
64 you so resolute. We have never had any 

43.30.43 quarrel, to which I have been a party. 
62,1 But I have made the trial in homage to 10 

27 Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas 
43,31,27,40 humor to the last. So, A Merry Christ- 

55,54 mas, uncle ! " 
11,65,55,27 " Good-afternoon ! " said Scrooge. 

40,55,27 " And, A Happy New Year ! " 15 

55,11,65,27 " Good-afternoon ! " said Scrooge. 

42,30 His nephew left the room without an 
30,27 angry word, notwithstanding. 

42.43.44 In letting Scrooge's nephew out, the 
43,44 clerk had let two other people in. They 20 
43,63 were portly gentlemen, pleasant to be- 

27,63,63 hold, and now stood, with their hats off, 

1,27,43 in Scrooge's office. They had books and 

43,27,43 papers in their hands, and bowed to him. 

40,52,30 " Scrooge & Marley's, I believe," said 25 

30 one of the gentlemen, referring to his 

27,46 list. " Have I the pleasure of addressing 

44 Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley? " 

5,43,30,43 " Mr. Marley has been dead these seven 



74 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

years," Scrooge replied. " He died seven 27,27 
years ago, this very night." 9-30 

" At this festive season of the year, Mr. 42,40,28 
Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up 54,55,a 

5 a pen, " it is more than usually desirable 28,1,31 
that we should make some slight pro- 
vision for the poor and destitute, who 30,30 
suffer greatly at the present time. Many 43,43,27 
thousands are in want of common neces- 43 

iosaries; hundreds of thousands are in 27,43,31 
want of common comforts, sir."' 30,54/b 

"Are there no prisons ?" asked Scrooge. 11,40,46,1,50 
" Plenty of prisons," said the gentle- 40,44,30 
man, laying down the pen again, "but 30,30 

15 under the impression that they scarcely 31 
furnish Christian cheer of mind or body 31,43,43,31 
to the multitude, a few of us are en- 28 
deavoring to raise a fund to buy the poor 43,31 
some meat and drink, and means of 31 

20 warmth. We choose this time, because 27,43,27 

it is a time, of all others, when Want is 63,43,28,1.43 

keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. 27,43,27 

What shall I put you down for?" 4o,4$,b 

" Nothing ! " Scrooge replied. 11,55,50 

25 "You wish to be anonymous? " 52 

" I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. 11,30,27 
" Since you ask me what I wish, gentle- 43.28 
men, that is my answer. I don't make 54,43,27 
merry myself at Christmas, and I can't 43,31,30 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 75 

43.27 afford to make idle people merry. I help 
43 to support the establishments I have 
27,43,64 mentioned — they cost enough ; and those 
43,43,27 who are badly off must go there." 
31.43,27,31 " Many can't go there ; and many would 5 
27 rather die." 
49-50 " If they would rather die," said 
28,11,43,27 Scrooge, " they had better do it, and de- 
43,27 crease the surplus population." Seeing 
31.43,43 that it would be useless to pursue their 10 
28,27 point, the gentlemen withdrew. 1 
42 At length the hour for shutting up the 
31,27,31 counting-house arrived. With an ill-will 
63 Scrooge dismounted from his stool, and 
4331 tacitly admitted the fact to the expectant 15 
27,1,40 clerk, who instantly snuffed his candle 
63 out and put on his hat. 
52 "You'll want all day to-morrow, I sup- 
50 pose? " said Scrooge. 
72,49,54 " If quite convenient, sir." 20 

11,43.27 "It's not convenient," said Scrooge, 
27,49 " and it's not fair. If I was to stop half- 
43,31 a-crown 2 for it you'd think yourself i 1 1 — 
43,30,27 used, I'll be bound ! " 

1 A graphic description of a London fog at Christmas 
time is here omitted. Cf. a similar description in the 
opening chapter of " Bleak House." 

2 Half-a-Croivn . — A crown was a coin anciently 
stamped with a crown. The English crown is five 
shillings sterling. 



76 " THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

The clerk smiled faintly. 43130,27 

"And yet," said Scrooge, "you don't ",27 , 
think me ill-used, when I pay a day's 43.31 
wages for no work." 43,31,27 

5 The clerk observed that it was only 72 
once a year. 27 

" A poor excuse for picking a man's 11,31 
pocket every twenty-fifth of December!" 31,1,5s 
said Scrooge, buttoning his great-coat to 50,1 
10 the chin. " But I suppose you must have 62 
the whole day. Be here all the earlier 27,64,43 
next morning." 43,64 

The clerk promised that he would ; and 43,61 
Scrooge walked out with a growl. The 31,27 
i 5 office was closed in a twinkling, and the 40,25,27 
clerk, with the long ends of his white com- 28 
forter dangling below his waist (for he 43,59 
boasted no great-coat), went down a slide 1,30 
on Cornhill, 1 at the end of a lane of boys, 1,30,30 
20 twenty times, in honor of its being Christ- 27,40 
mas eve, and then ran home to Camden 2 7l4 o 
Town 1 as hard as he could pelt, to play 31.27 
at blind man's buff. 2 27 

Scrooge took his melancholy dinner in 42,43,31 

1 Cornhill. — A well-known thoroughfare in London. 
Camden Town, the name of a particular section of the 
same city. 

2 Blind Man's Buff. — A popular*.game of ancient 
origin, formerly called " Hoodman's blind." 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 77 

1,30 his usual melancholy tavern ; and having 

43-28 read all the newspapers, and beguiled the 

43,31.43 rest of the evening with his banker's 

28,30,27,43 book, went home to bed. He lived in 

43,30,43 chambers which had once belonged to his s 

1,43 deceased partner. They were a gloomy 

1,30,1 suite of rooms, in a lowering pile of 

30.27 buildings up a yard, where it had so little 

43.28 business to be, that one could scarcely 
31,43,30 help fancying it must have run there 10 

43,30 when it was a young house, playing at 

43.30.30 hide-and-seek with other houses, and have 
43,30,27,43 forgotten the way out again. It was old 

64,43,64 enough now, and dreary enough ; for 
43,27 nobody lived in it but Scrooge, the other i S 
31,43,30,27 rooms being all let out as offices. 

42.30 Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing 
1,43 at all particular about the knocker on the 

63,31,43 door, except that it was very large. It is 
43,30,43,30 also a fact, that Scrooge had seen it night 20 

30.43.31 and morning, during his whole residence 

27.31 in that place ; also that Scrooge had as 
43,31 little of what is called fancy about him as 

27 any man in the city of London. 

42,31,31,2s And yet it happened that Scrooge, 25 

28 having his key in the lock of the door, saw 
28 in the knocker, without its undergoing 

36,43,28,43 any intermediate process of change — not 
28,55 a knocker, but Marley's face. 



78 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

Marley's face ! It was not in impene- 55,43 
trable shadow, as the other objects in the 30,43 
yard were, but had a dismal light about 27,40,43 
it. It was not angry or ferocious, but 27,30,30 

5 looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look : 43,30,43,1 
with ghostly spectacles turned up on its 43 ,i 
ghostly forehead. The hair was curiously 1,1,27,43 
stirred, as if by breath or hot air ; and, 27,43,30,43 
though the eyes were wide open, they 43,49,28 

10 were perfectly motionless. 27 

As Scrooge looked fixedly at this phe- 1,1 
nomenon, it was a knocker again. 28,43,27 

To say that he was not startled, or that 28 
his blood was not conscious of a terrible 43 

15 sensation to which it had been a stranger 43,31-43 
from infancy, would be untrue. But he 28,27 
put his hand upon the key he had relin- 4 o 
quished, turned it sturdily, walked in, 6 3 ,6 3 ,6 3 
and lighted his candle. 27 

20 He did pause, with a moment's irresolu- 29 
tion, before he shut the door ; and he did 29,29 
look cautiously behind it first, as if he 43,63 
half expected to be terrified with the 1 
sight of Marley's pigtail sticking out into 43,30 

25 the hall. But there was nothing on the 27 ,6 2 
back of the door, except the screws and 63 
nuts that held the knocker on, so he said, 30,43,27,68 
" Pooh, pooh ! " and closed it with a bang. 55,43,30,40 
The sound resounded through the 3 ,i 3 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 79 

27,44 house like thunder. Every room above, 

1 and every cask in the wine-merchant's 

44 cellars below, appeared to have a separate 

43,30,27 peal of echoes of its own. Scrooge was 

53,31,64 not a man to be frightened by echoes. 5 

40,27 He fastened the door, and walked across 

27,27,27,27 the hall, and up the stairs ; slowly, too ; 

30,27 trimming his candle as he went. 
42,40,63,43 Up Scrooge went, not caring a button 
64,43,27 for that. Darkness is cheap, and Scrooge 10 
43,27 liked it. But before he shut his heavy 
28,30 door, he walked through his rooms to see 
27 that all was right. He had just enough 
31,43 recollection of the face to desire to do 
64 that. 15 

63,63,60,27 Sitting room, bedroom, lumber room. 
43,27 All as they should be. Nobody under 
44 the table ; nobody under the sofa ; a small 
43,63,43 fire in the grate ; spoon and basin ready ; 
1,28,59 and the little saucepan of gruel (Scrooge 20 
27 had a cold in his head) upon the hob. 1 
63 Nobody under the bed ; nobody in the 
63,63 closet ; nobody in his dressing gown, 
40,43 which was hanging up in a suspicious 

31.27 attitude against the wall. 25 

28.28 Quite satisfied, he closed his door, and 

1 The hob of a fireplace is the raised stone, or flat 
part of the grate, on either side of the hearth, where 
things are placed to be kept warm, 



So THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

locked himself in ; double-locked himself 27,43 
in, which was not his custom. Thus 27,43,1 

1 secured against surprise, he took off his 1,1,28 
cravat ; put on his dressing gown and 63 

5 slippers, and his nightcap; and sat down 63,1 
before the fire to take his gruel. 31,27,1 

After several turns, he sat down again. 42,28,43 
As he threw his head back in the chair, 28,1,1 
his glance happened to rest upon a bell, 1,43,30 

10 a disused bell that hung in the room, and 43,31,63 
* communicated for some purpose, now 43,31,63 
forgotten, with a chamber in the highest 28,43,1 
story of the building. It was with great i, 43 
astonishment, and with a strange, inex- 31,36,28,1 

is plicable dread, that, as he looked, he saw 28.28,28 
this bell begin to swing. It swung so 40,27 
softly in the outset that it scarcely made 43,31,31 
a sound ; but soon it rang out loudly, and 27,27,20 
so did every bell in the house. 43,27 

20 This might have lasted half a minute, 43,31,1,30 
or a minute, but it seemed an hour. The 27,43,27 
bells ceased as they had begun, together. 1,30,30,27 
They were succeeded by a clanking noise, 43,43,30 
deep down below, as if some person were 30 

25 dragging a heavy chain over the casks in 43,30,1 
the wine-merchant's cellar. Scrooge then 43,^40 
remembered to have heard that ghosts in 31,1.31 
haunted houses were described as drag- 31,36 
ging chains. 43 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. a I 

31 The cellar-door flew open with a boom- 

27 ing sound, and then he heard the noise 

27,27 much louder, on the floors below ; then 

36.27 coming up the stairs ; then coming 
36,9,27 straight toward his door. 5 

30,55,50 "It's humbug still!" said Scrooge. 
1,43,27 " I won't believe it." 
43,30,64,28 His color changed, though, when, with- 
28,30,43 out a pause, it came on through the heavy 
63,30 door, and passed into the room before his 10 

27.28 eyes. Upon its coming in, the dying 
43,30,68,40 flame leaped up, as though it cried " I 

55,55,43 know him ! Marley's ghost ! " and fell 
27 again. 

40,27,27,30 The same face ; the very same. Marleyis 
63,63,63 in his pig-tail, usual waistcoat, tights, 
27,43,31 and boots. The chain he drew was 

1,27,43,30 clasped about his middle. It was long 

30.27 and wound about him like a tail; and it 
43,63,63 was made of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, 20 
63,63,30 ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought 
27,43,27 in steel. His body was transparent ; so 

28.28 that Scrooge, observing him, and looking 
43,28 through his waistcoat, could see the two 

43,30,27 buttons on his coat behind. 25 

42,30 Scrooge had often heard it said that 

43,31,30 Marley had no bowels, but he had never 
43,30 believed it until now. 
64,27 No, nor did he believe it even now. 



82 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

Though he looked the phantom through 
and through and saw it standing before 3 o, 43 
him ; though he felt the chilling influence 27,30 
of its death-cold eyes ; and marked the 27 
5 very texture of the folded kerchief bound 3Q 
about its head and chin, which wrapper 27 
he had not observed before ; he was still 43 ,2 7 
incredulous, and fought against his 30,1 
senses. 27 

10 " How now ! " said Scrooge, caustic 55,11,5,50 
and cold as ever. " What do you want 47,30 
with me ? " 27 

" Much" — Marley's voice, no doubt 13,27,53,43 
about it. 27 

15 " Who are you ? " 47, 43 

" Ask me who I was." i 3 

" Who were you, then ? " said Scrooge, 47 , 5 o 
raising his voice. *' You're particular, for 27,43,30 
a shade." He was going to say, " to a 43,43,43 
20 shade," but substituted this, as more ap- 27)I ,3o 
propriate. 27 

" In life I was your partner, Jacob 13,31,30 
Marley." 27 

''Can you — can you sit down?" 72,1 
25 asked Scrooge, looking doubtfully at him. i, 27 
" I can." 13 

" Do it, then." 43,30,27 

Scrooge asked the question, because he 1,43,63 
didn't know whether a ghost so trans- 43,30 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. &3 

43,31.43 parent might find himself in a condition 

27,31 to take a chair ; and felt that in the event 

28 of its being impossible, it might involve 

43.31 the necessity of an embarrassing explana- 

27,62.30 tion. But the Ghost sat down on the 5 

30 opposite side of the fireplace, as if he 

1,27 were quite used to it. 

13,52 a You don't believe in me," observed 
27 the Ghost. 
11,27,43,27 " I don't," said Scrooge. 10 

47,43 "What evidence would you have of 

30 my reality beyond that of your own 
27 senses ? " 

11,27,27 " I don't know," said Scrooge. 
47,43 "Why do you doubt your senses? " 15 
53,50 " Because," said Scrooge, " a little 
43,27 thing affects them. A slight disorder of 

31 the stomach makes them cheats. You 

6 3 may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot 
63,63 of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment 20 

27 of an underdone potato. There's more of 
63,44,30,43 gravy than of grave about you, whatever 
27 you are." 
42.43 Scrooge was not much in the habit of 

64 cracking jokes, nor did he feel in his 25 
43,43,27 heart by any means waggish then. The 

28,43 truth is, that he tried to be smart, as a 
43,27 means of distracting his own attention, 
31,27 and keeping down his terror. But how 



»4 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

much greater was his horror, when the 36,28 
phantom, taking off the bandage round 28 
his head, as if it were too warm to wear 28,43 
indoors, its lower jaw dropped down upon 30,55 
5 its breast ! 27 

Scrooge fell upon his knees, and clasped 30,1 
his hands before his face. 43,27 

" Mercy ! " he said. " Dreadful appari- 55,50 
tion, why do you trouble me ? " 54,47 

10 " Man of the worldly mind ! " replied 13,54,50 
the Ghost, "do you believe in me or 30,43,46,44 
not?" 27 

"I do," said Scrooge. "I must. But 40,27,43,27 
why do spirits walk the earth, and why 47 
15 do they come to me ?." 47,43 

" It is required of every man," the Ghost 13,9,30 
returned, " that the spirit within him 30 
should walk abroad among his fellow-men, 30,43,30 
and travel far and wide ; and if that spirit 43,27,49 
20 goes not forth in life, it is condemned to 28 
do so after death. 27 

" Nor can I tell you what I would. A 43 ,2 7 
very little more is permitted to me. I 30,27 
cannot rest, I cannot stay, I cannot linger 40,27,27,36 
25 anywhere. My spirit never walked be- 27,43 
yond our counting-house — mark me! — 27,5s 
in life my spirit never roved beyond our 31,43 
money-changing hole ; and weary journeys 40,27,40 
lie before me ! " 27 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 85 

9»55,i>3° " Seven years dead," mused Scrooge, 

43,46 " and traveling all the time ? " 
27,43,27 "The whole time," said the Ghost. 

44,40 " No rest, no peace. Incessant torture of 
27 remorse." 5 

46,50 "You travel fast?" said Scrooge. 

43.27 "On the wings of the wind," replied 
27 the Ghost. 

52 "You might have got over a great 
43,31 quantity of ground in seven years," said 10 

27 Scrooge. 

28.28 The Ghost, on hearing this, set up 
30,43 another cry and clanked its chain hid- 

30,40,27 eously in the dead silence of the night. 
54, c ,io " Oh ! captive, bound, and double- 15 
54,c )27 ironed," cried the phantom, "not to 

43,30,30 know that ages of incessant labor, by 
43 immortal creatures, for this earth must 

43,30,43 pass into eternity before the good of 

31.27 which it is susceptible is all developed. 20 
31,9,31 Not to know that any Christian spirit 

31.28 working kindly in its little sphere, what- 

28 ever it may be, will find its mortal life too 
40,30,27 short for its vast means of usefulness. 

31,30 Not to know that no space of regret 25 
9 can make amends for one life's oppor- 
27,55,40 tunities misused ! Yet such was I ! Oh, 
40,55 such was I ! " 
43 " But you were always a good man of 



86 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who 43.30,54,30 
now began to apply this to himself. 43,43,27 

" Business ! " cried the Ghost, wringing 55,11,50,40 
its hands again. " Mankind was my busi- 2 7 , 43 
sness. The common welfare was my busi- 40,43," 
ness ; charity, mercy, forbearance, and 6 3)4 o 
benevolence, were all my business." 43,43,11,40 

Scrooge was very much dismayed to 43,30 

hear the specter going on at this rate, and 43,30 

10 began to quake exceedingly. 43,27 

" Hear me ! " cried the Ghost. " My 13,55 
time is nearly gone." 27 

" I will," said Scrooge. " But don't be 40,27,43 
hard upon me ! Don't be flowery, Jacob ! 55,30,54 
15 Pray ! " 55 

" How it is that I appear before you in 13,31 
a shape that you can see, I may not tell. 31,27 
I have sat invisible beside you many and 43,30,30 
many a day." 27 

20 It was not an agreeable idea. Scrooge 43,43,27 
shivered, and wiped the perspiration from 43,1 
his brow. 27 

" That is no light part of my penance," n, 3 o 
pursued the Ghost. " I am here to-night 27 
25 to warn you, that you have yet a chance 43,30,1 
and hope of escaping my fate. A chance 43,27 
and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer." 43,54 

" You were always a good friend to me," 43,43 
said Scrooge. " Thank'ee ! " 27 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 87 

13.30 " You will be haunted," resumed the 

28.27 Ghost, " by three Spirits." 

72,43,1,46 "Is that the chance and hope you 
30,54,50 mentioned, Jacob?" he demanded in a 

27 faltering voice. 5 

13 " It is." 
72,43,43 " I — I think I'd rather not," said 

27 Scrooge. 

28.28 " Without their visits," said the Ghost, 

43 "you cannot hope to shun the path I 10 
27,30 tread. Expect the first to-morrow, when 
27 the bell tolls One." 
72,43,46 " Couldn't I take 'em all at once, and 
43,54,50 have it over, Jacob ? " hinted Scrooge. 
31,43.30 " Expect the second on the next night 15 

27 at the same hour. The third, upon the 

43.30,1 next night when the last stroke of Twelve 

1,27,43 has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me 

27,28 no more ; and look that, for your own 

28,30,40 sake, you remember what has passed 20 

27 between us ! " 

43 The apparition walked backward from 
27,28 him ; and at every step it took, the win- 
43,27,28 dow raised itself a little, so that, when 
28,27 the specter reached it, it was wide open. 25 
42,30 Scrooge closed the window, and exam- 
43,30 ined the door by which the Ghost had 
43,27,43,27 entered. It was double-locked, as he had 
43,27 locked it with his own hands, and the 



58 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

bolts were undisturbed. He tried to say 43,27,43 
" Humbug ! " but stopped at the first 27,43,30,1 
syllable. And being, from the emotion 27,28 
he had undergone, or the fatigues of the 28 
5 day, or his glimpse of the Invisible World, 28 
or the dull conversation of the Ghost, or 28 
the lateness of the hour, much in need of 28 
repose, went straight to bed without un- 43,28,30 
dressing, and fell asleep upon the instant. 30,43,27 



STAVE II. 

THE FIRST OF THE THREE SPIRITS. 

When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark, that, 
looking out of bed, he could scarcely distinguish 
the transparent window from the opaque walls of 
his chamber. He was endeavoring to pierce the 
darkness with his ferret eyes, when the chimes 5 
of a neighboring church struck the four quarters. 
So he listened for the hour. 

To his great astonishment the heavy bell went 
on from six to seven, and from seven to eight, and 
regularly up to twelve ; then stopped. Twelve ! 10 
It was past two when he went to bed. The 
clock was wrong. 

He touched the spring of his repeater, to cor- 
rect this most preposterous clock. Its rapid little 
pulse beat twelve, and stopped. 15 

" Why, it isn't possible," said Scrooge, " that I 
can have slept through a whole day and far into 
another night. It isn't possible that anything 
has happened to the sun, and this is twelve at 
noon ! " 20 

The idea being an alarming one, he scrambled 
out of bed, and groped his way to the window. 



90 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

He was obliged to rub the frost off with the sleeve 
of his dressing gown before he could see any- 
thing ; and could see very little then. All he 
could make out was, that it was still very foggy 
sand extremely cold, and that there was no noise 
of people running to and fro, and making a great 
stir, as there unquestionably would hove been if 
night had beaten off bright day, and taken pos- 
session of the world. 
10 Scrooge went to bed again, and thought, and 
thought, and thought it over and over, and could 
make nothing of it. The more he thought, the 
more perplexed he was ; and the more he en- 
deavored not to think, the more he thought. 
is Scrooge lay in this state until the chime had 
gone three quarters more, when he remembered, 
on a sudden, that the Ghost had warned him of 
a visitation when the bell tolled one. He resolved 
to lie awake until the hour was passed ; and, con- 
2osidering that he could not go to sleep, this was, 
perhaps, the wisest resolution in his power. 

The quarter was so long, that he was more 
than once convinced he must have sunk into a 
doze unconsciously, and missed the clock. At 
23 length it broke upon his listening ear. 

" Ding, dong ! " 

" A quarter past, " said Scrooge, counting. 

" Ding, dong ! " 

" Half past ! " said Scrooge. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 91 

" Ding, dong ! " 

" A quarter to it, " said Scrooge. 

" Ding, dong ! " 

" The hour itself, " said Scrooge, triumphantly ; 
" and nothing else ! " 5 

He spoke before the hour bell sounded, which 
it now did with a deep, dull, hollow, melancholy 
One. Light flashed up in the room upon the 
instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn. 

The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell 10 
you, by a hand. Not the curtains at his feet, nor 
the curtains at his back, but those to which his 
face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were 
drawn aside ; and Scrooge, starting up into a half- 
recumbent attitude, found himself face to face 15 
with the unearthly visitor. 

It was a strange figure — like a child ; yet not so 
like a child as like an old man, viewed through 
some supernatural medium, which gave him the 
appearance of having receded from the view, and 20 
being diminished to a child's proportions. Its 
hair, which hung about its neck and down its 
back, was white as if with age ; and yet the face 
had not a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom 
was on the skin. 25 

It held a branch of fresrfgreen holly in its hand ; 
and in singular contradiction of that wintry em- 
blem, had its dress trimmed with summer flowers. 
But the strangest tiling about it was, that from 



92 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

the crown of its head there sprung a bright, clear 
jet of light, by which all this was visible; and 
which was doubtless the occasion of its using, in 
its duller moments, a great extinguisher for a cap, 
5 which it now held under its arm. 

"Are you the Spirit, sir, whose coming was 
foretold to me? " asked Scrooge. 

" I am ! " 

The voice was soft and gentle. Singularly low, 
ioas if, instead of being so close beside him, it were 
at a distance. 

" Who, and what are you ? " Scrooge demanded. 

" I am the Ghost of Christmas Past." 

" Long past ? " inquired Scrooge. 
15 " No. Your past." 

He then made bold to inquire what business 
brought him there. 

" Your welfare ! Rise, and walk with me ! " 
said the Ghost. 
20 It would have been in vain for Scrooge to 
plead that the weather and the hour were not 
adapted to pedestrian purposes ; that the bed 
was warm and the thermometer a long way below 
freezing ; that he was clad but lightly in his slip- 
2spers, dressing gown, and nightcap. The grasp, 
though gentle as a woman's hand, was not to be 
resisted. He rose, but finding that the Spirit 
made toward the window, clasped its robe in sup- 
plication. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 93 

" I am a mortal," Scrooge remonstrated, " and 
liable to fall." 

" Bear but a touch of my hand tJiere" said the 
Spirit, laying it upon his heart, " and you shall 
be upheld in more than this ! " s 

As the words were spoken, they passed through 
the wall, and stood upon an open country road, 
with fields on either hand. The city had entirely 
vanished. Not a vestige of it was to be seen. 
The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, *° 
for it was a clear, cold, winter day, with snow 
upon the ground. 

"Good Heaven!" said Scrooge, clasping his 
hands together, as he looked about him. " I was 
bred in this place. I was a boy here ! " *s 

The Spirit gazed upon him mildly. Its gentle 
touch, though it had been light and instantaneous, 
appeared still present to the old man's sense of 
feeling. He was conscious of a thousand odors 
floating in the air, each one connected with a 2Q 
thousand thoughts and hopes and joys and cares, 
long, long forgotten ! 

" Your lip is trembling," said the Ghost. 
" And what is that upon your cheek? " 

Scrooge muttered, with an unusual catching in 2 S 
his voice, that it was a pimple ; and begged the 
Ghost to lead him where he would. 

"You recollect the way?" inquired the 
Spirit. 



94 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" Remember it ! " cried Scrooge with fervor ; 
"I could walk it blindfold." 

" Strange to have forgotten it for so many 
years ! " observed the Ghost. " Let us go on." 
5 They walked along the road, Scrooge recog- 
nizing every gate and post and tree, until a little 
market-town appeared in the distance, with its 
bridge, its church, and winding river. Some 
shaggy ponies now were seen trotting toward 
icthem with boys upon their backs, who called to 
other boys in country gigs and carts, driven by 
farmers. All these boys were in great spirits, and 
shouted to each other, until the broad fields were 
so full of merry music, that the crisp air laughed 
15 to hear it. 

" These are but shadows of the things that have 
been," said the Ghost. " They have no con- 
sciousness of us." 

The jocund travelers came on ; and as they 
20 came, Scrooge knew and named them every one. 
Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see 
them? Why did his cold eye glisten, and his 
heart leap up as they went past? Why was he 
filled with gladness when he heard them give 
25 each other Merry Christmas, as they parted at 
cross-roads and by-ways for their several homes ? 

" The school is not quite deserted," said the 
Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his 
friends, is left there still." 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 95 

Scrooge said he knew it. And he sobbed. 

They left the high-road by a well-remembered 
lane, and soon approached a mansion of dull red 
brick, with a little weathercock-surmounted cu- 
pola on the roof, and a bell hanging in it. It 5 
was a large house, but one of broken fortunes ; 
for the spacious offices were little used, their walls 
were damp and mossy, their windows broken, and 
their gates decayed. Nor was it more retentive 
of its ancient state within; for, entering the 10 
dreary hall, and glancing through the open doors 
of many rooms, they found them poorly fur- 
nished, cold, and vast. There was an earthy 
savor in the air, a chilly bareness in the place, 
which associated itself somehow with too much I5 
getting up by candle light, and not too much to 
eat. 

They went, the Ghost and Scrooge, across the 
hall, to a door at the back of the house. It 
opened before them, and disclosed a long, 20 
bare, melancholy room, made barer still by lines 
of plain deal forms J and desks. At one of these 
a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire ; and 
Scrooge sat down upon a form, and wept to see 
his poor forgotten self as he had used to be. 25 

Not a latent echo in the house, not a squeak 

1 Deal forms. — Long benches or forms to sit on, used in the 
English schools. Deal, wood of a fir-tree, in some parts of Eng- 
land called deal-tree. 



9 6 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

and scuffle from the mice behind the paneling, not 
a drip from the half-thawed water spout in the 
dull yard behind, not a sigh among the leafless 
boughs of one despondent poplar, not the idle 

5 swinging of an empty store-house door, no, not a 
clicking in the fire, but fell upon the heart of 
Scrooge with softening influence, and gave a freer 
passage to his tears. 

The spirit touched him on the arm, and pointed 

ioto his younger self, intent upon his reading. 
Suddenly a man in foreign garments, wonder- 
fully real and distinct to look at, stood out- 
side the window, with an ax stuck in his belt, 
and leading by the bridle an ass laden with 

is wood. 

" Why, it's AH Baba ! " 1 Scrooge exclaimed in 
in ecstacy. " It's dear old honest Ali Baba ! 
Yes, yes, I know. One Christmas time, when 
yonder solitary child was left here all alone, he 

20 did come, for the first time, just like that. Poor 
boy! And Valentine," 2 said Scrooge, "and 
his wild brother, Orson ; there they go ! And 
the Sultan's groom turned upside down by the 
Genii ; there he is upon his head ! Served him 

1 Ali Baba. — The woodcarrier who accidently learned the magic 
words, "Open Sesame!" in the familar story of the "Arabian 
Nights," called " Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves." 

2 Valentine and Orson. — Twin sons of Bellisant and Alexander 
(Emperor of Constantinople). They figure as characters in an old 
romance of the fifteenth century. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 97 

right. I'm glad of it. What business had he 
to be married to the Princess?" 

To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness 
of his nature on such subjects, in a most extraor- 
dinary voice between laughing and crying; and 5 
to see his heightened and excited face, would 
have been a surprise to his business friends in the 
city, indeed. 

" There's the parrot ! " cried Scrooge. " Green 
body and yellow tail, with a thing like a lettuce 10 
growing out of the top of his head ; there he is ! 
Poor Robin Crusoe, 1 he called him, when he 
came home again after sailing round the island. 
'Poor Robin Crusoe; where have you been, 
Robin Crusoe?' The man thought he was 15 
dreaming, but he wasn't. It was the parrot, you 
know. There goes Friday, runninglfor his life to 
the little creek ! Halloa ! Hoop ! Halloo ! " 

Then, with a rapidity of transition, very foreign 
to his usual character, he said, in pity for his for- 20 
mer self, "Poor boy ! " and cried again. 

" I wish," Scrooge muttered, putting his hand 
in his pocket, and looking about him, after dry- 
ing his eyes with his cuff ; " but its too late 
now." 25 

" What is the matter ? " asked the Spirit. 

1 Poor Robin Crusoe. — Reference is made to several well-known 
incidents in De Foe's masterly fiction called the " Adventures of 
Robinson Crusoe." 



9° THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" Nothing," said Scrooge, — " nothing. There 
was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door 
last night. I should like to have given him 
something; that's all." 
5 The Ghost smiled thoughtfully, and waved his 
hand, saying as he did so, " Let us see another 
Christmas ! " 

Scrooge's former self grew larger at the words, 
and the room became a little darker and more 
10 dirty. The panels shrunk, the windows cracked ; 
fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling, and 
the naked laths were shown instead ; but how all 
this was brought about, Scrooge knew no more 
than you do. He only knew that it was quite 
15 correct; that everything had happened so; that 
there he was, alone again, when all the other boys 
had gone home for the jolly holidays. 

He was not reading now, but walking up and 
down despairingly. Scrooge looked at the Ghost, 
20 and with a mournful shaking of his head glanced 
anxiously toward the door. 

It opened; and a little girl, much younger than 
the boy, came darting in, and putting her arms 
about his neck, and often kissing him, addressed 
25 him as her " Dear, dear brother." 

" I have come to bring you home, dear brother ! " 
said the child, clapping her tiny hands. " To 
bring you home, home, home ! " 

' 'Home, little Fan?" returned the boy. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 99 

" Yes ! " said the child, brimful! of glee. 
" Home, for good and all. Father is so mnch 
kinder than he used to be ! He spoke so gently 
to me one dear night when I was going to bed, 
that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you 5 
might come home ; and he said, Yes, you should ; 
and sent me in a coach to bring you. And 
you're to be a man ! " said the child, opening her 
eyes, " and are never to come back here ; but 
first, we're to be together all the Christmas long, 10 
and have the merriest time in all the world." 

" You are quite a woman, little Fan ! " ex- 
claimed the boy. 

She clapped her hands and laughed, and tried 
to touch his head ; but, being too little, laughed 15 
again, and stood on tiptoe to embrace him. Then 
she began to drag him, in her childish eagerness, 
toward the door ; and he, nothing loath to go, 
accompanied her. 

A terrible voice in the hall cried, " Bring down 20 
Master Scrooge's box, there ! " and in the hall 
appeared the schoolmaster himself, who glared 
on Master Scrooge with a ferocious condescen- 
sion, and threw him into a dreadful state of mind 
by shaking hands with him. He then conveyed 25 
him and his sister into the veriest old well of a 
shivering best-parlor that ever was seen, where 
the maps upon the. wall, and the celestial and 
terrestrial globes in the windows, were waxy with 



ioo THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

cold. Here he produced a decanter of curiously 
light wine, and a block of curiously heavy cake, 
and administered instalments of those dainties 
to the young people ; at the same time sending 
5 out a meager servant to offer a glass of " some- 
thing" to the postboy, who answered that he 
thanked the gentleman, but if it was the same tap 
as he had tasted before, he had rather not. 
Master Scrooge's trunk being by this time tied 
ioon to the top of the chaise, the children bade the 
schoolmaster good-by right willingly; and, get- 
ting into it, drove gayly down the garden-sweep, 
the quick wheels dashing the hoar-frost and snow 
from off the dark leaves of the evergreens like 
is spray. 

" Always a delicate creature, whom a breath 
might have withered," said the Ghost. " But she 
had a large heart." 

" So she had," cried Scrooge. " You're right. 
20 1 will not gainsay it, Spirit. God forbid." 

"She died a woman," said the Ghost, "and 
had, as I think, children." 

"One child," Scrooge returned. 
" True," said the Ghost. " Your nephew ! " 
25 Scrooge seemed uneasy in his mind ; and an- 
swered briefly, " Yes." 

Although they had but that moment left the 
school behind them, they were now in the busy 
thoroughfares of a city. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. io 1 

It was made plain enough, by the dressing of 
the shops, that here too it was Christmas time. 

The Ghost stopped at a certain warehouse 
door and asked Scrooge if he knew it. 

" Know it ! " said Scrooge. " Was I appren- 5 
ticed here ? " 

They went in. At sight of an old gentlemen 
in a Welsh wig, sitting behind a high desk, 
Scrooge cried in great excitement : 

" Why, it's old Fezziwig ! Bless his heart ; it's IO 
Fezziwig alive again ! " 

Old Fezziwig laid down his pen, and looked up 
at the clock, which pointed to the hour of seven. 
He rubbed his hands ; adjusted his capacious 
waistcoat ; laughed all over himself, from his i 5 
shoes to his organ of benevolence ; and called out 
in a comfortable, oily, rich, fat, jovial voice : 

" Yo ho, there ! Ebenezer ! Dick ! " 

Scrooge's former self, now grown to a young 
man, came briskly in, accompanied by his fellow- ao 
apprentice. 

" Dick Wilkins, to be sure ! " said Scrooge to 
the Ghost. " Bless me, yes. There he is. He 
was very much attached to me, was Dick. Poor 
Dick ! Dear, dear." 2 _- 

" Yo ho, my boys ! " said Fezziwig. " No more 
work to-night. Christmas Eve, Dick ! Christmas, 
Ebenezer! Let's have the shutters up," cried 
old Fezziwig, with a sharp clap of his hands, 



102 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

"before a man can say Jack Robinson! 1 Clear 

away, my lads, and let's have lots of room here ! " 

Clear away ! There was nothing they wouldn't 

have cleared away, or couldn't have cleared away, 

5 with old Fezziwig looking on. It was done in a 
minute. Every movable was packed off, as if it 
were dismissed from public life forevermore ; 
the floor was swept and watered, thelamps were 
trimmed, fuel was heaped upon the fire ; and the 

10 warehouse was as snug, and warm, and dry, and 
bright a ball-room, as you would desire to see 
upon a winter's night. 

In came' a fiddler with a music book, and went 
up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra of 

15 it. In came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial 
smile. In came the three Misses Fezziwig, beam- 
ing and lovable. In came the six young followers 
whose hearts they broke. In came all the young 
men and women employed in the business. In 

20 came the house maid, with her cousin, the baker. 
In came the cook, with her brother's particular 
friend, the milkman. In they all came one after 
another; some shyly, some boldly, some grace- 
fully, some awkwardly, some pushing, some pull- 

ssing; in they all came anyhow and everyhow. 

x Jack Robi7ison." — The words of this very popular saying- ori- 
ginated from a famous comic song. The last line is, "And he 
was off before he could say Jack Robinson." The words were 
sung to the tune of the " Sailors' Hornpipe." 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 103 

Away they all went, twenty couple at once ; hands 
half round and back again the other way ; down 
the middle and up again ; round and round in 
various stages of affectionate grouping; old top 
couple always turning up in the wrong place ; new s 
top couple starting off again as soon as they got 
there ; all top couples at last, and not a bottom 
one to help them ! When this result was brought 
about, old Fezziwig, clapping his hands to stop 
the dance, cried out : " Well done ! " and the fid-10 
dler plunged his hot face into a pot of porter 
especially provided for that purpose. 

There were more dances, and there were more 
forfeits, and more dances, and there was cake, and 
there was a great piece of Cold Roast, and there I5 
was a great piece of Cold Boiled, and there were 
mince-pies, and plenty of beer. But the great 
effect of the evening came after the Roast and 
Boiled, when the fiddler struck up " Sir Roger de 
Coverley." ' Then old Fezziwig stood out to 20 
dance with Mrs. Fezziwig. Top couple, too ; with 
a good stiff piece of work cut out for them ; three 
or four and twenty pair of partners; people who 
were not to be trifled with; people who would 
dance and had no notion of walking. 25 

But if they had been twice as many — ah, four 

1 "Sir Roger de Coverley." — A dance named in honor of a 
Baronet of Coverley near Cowley, near Oxford, England. It cor- 
responds to our modern " Virgina Reel." 



104 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

times — old Fezziwig would have been a match 
for them, and so would Mrs. Fezziwig. As to 
her, she was worthy to be his partner in every sense 
of the term. If that's not high praise, tell me 

5 higher, and I'll use it. And when old Fezziwig - 
and Mrs. Fezziwig had gone all through the 
dance ; advance and retire, both hands to your 
partner, bow and courtesy, corkscrew, thread-the- 
needle, and back again to your place ; Fezziwig 

10" cut" — cut so deftly, that he appeared to wink 
with his legs, and came upon his feet again with- 
out a stagger. 

When the clock struck eleven, this domestic 
ball broke up. Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig took their 

5 stations, one on either side the door, and shaking 
hands with every person individually as he or she 
went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas, 
When everybody had retired but the two 'pren- 
tices, they did the same to them ; and thus the 
.cheerful voices died away, and the lads were left 
to their beds, which were under a counter in the 
back-shop. 

During the whole of this time, Scrooge had 
acted like a man out of his wits. His heart and 

25 soul were in the scene, and with his former self. 
He corroborated everything, remembered every- 
thing, enjoyed everything, and underwent the 
strangest agitation. It was not until now, when 
the bright faces of his former self and Dick were 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 105 

turned from them, that he remembered the 
Ghost, and became conscious that it was looking 
full upon him, while the light upon its head burnt 
very clear. 

"A small matter," said the Ghost, "to makes 
these silly folks so full of gratitude." 

" Small ! " echoed Scrooge. 

The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two ap- 
prentices, who were pouring out their hearts in 
praise of Fezziwig ; and when he had done so, 10 
said : 

" Why ! Is it not ? He has spent but a few 
pounds of your mortal money ; three or four, per- 
haps. Is that so much that he deserves this 
praise ? " IS 

" It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the re- 
mark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, 
not his latter, self, — " it isn't that, Spirit. He 
has the power to render us happy or unhappy ; to 
make our service light or burdensome ; a pleasure 20 
or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and 
looks ; in things so slight and insignificant that 
it is impossible to add and count 'em up: what 
then? The happiness he gives is quite as great 25 
as if it cost a fortune." 

He felt the Spirit's glance, and stopped. 

"What is the matter?" asked the Ghost. 

" Nothing particular," said Scrooge. 

" Something, I think ? " the Ghost insisted. 



lo6 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" No," said Scrooge, " no. I should like to be 
able to say a word or two to my clerk just now. 
That's all.'' 1 

Scrooge and the Ghost again stood side by 
5 side in the open air. 

" My time grows short," observed the Spirit. 
" Quick!" 

" Spirit ! " said Scrooge, in a broken voice, 
" remove me from this place." 
10 " I told you these were shadows of the things 
that have been," said the Ghost. " That they 
are what they are, do not blame me ! " 

" Remove me ! " Scrooge exclaimed. " I can- 
not bear it ! Leave me. Take me back. Haunt 
15 me no longer ! " 

He was conscious of being exhausted, and 
overcome by an irresistible drowsiness, and 
further, of being in his own bedroom. 

He had barely time to reel to bed, before he 
20 sank into a heavy sleep. 

i The scene changes, and Scrooge sees himself in the prime of 
life. " His face had not the harsh and rigid lines of later years 
but it had begun to wear the signs of avarice ; " and a young girl 
stands beside him, and tells him that another idol, a golden one, 
has displaced her, and that she releases him. "May you be as 
happy in the life you have chosen ! " she says sorrowfully, and dis- 
appears. "Spirit!" says Scrooge, "show me no more; con- 
duct me home." But the Ghost points again, and the wretched 
man sees a happy home — husband and wife, and many children, 
and the matron is she whom he might have called his own. 



STAVE III. 

THE SECOND OF THE THREE SPIRITS. 

Awaking in the middle of a prodigiously tough 
snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts 
together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that 
the bell was again upon the stroke of One. He 
began to wonder which of his curtains this new 5 
specter would draw back. He put them every 
one aside with his own hands, and lying down 
again, established a sharp lookout all .round the 
bed. For he wished to challenge the Spirit on 
the moment of its appearance, and did not wish i 
to be taken by surprise and made nervous. 

When the bell struck One, and no shape ap- 
peared, he was taken with a violent fit of trem- 
bling. Five minutes, ten minutes, a quarter of 
an hour went by, yet nothing came. All this i 
time he lay upon his bed, the very core and 
center of a blaze of ruddy light, which streamed 
upon it when the clock proclaimed the hour ; 
and which, being only light, was more alarming 
than a dozen ghosts, as he was powerless to 2 
make out what it meant. At last, however, he 
began to think that the source and secret of this 



108 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

ghostly light might be in the adjoining room, 
from whence, on further tracing it, it seemed to 
shine. This idea taking full possession of his 
mind, he got up softly and shuffled in his slippers 
5 to the door. 

The moment Scrooge's hand was on the lock, a 
strange voice called him by his name, and bade 
him enter. He obeyed. 
It was his own room. There was no doubt about 

iothat. But it had undergone a surprising trans- 
formation. The walls and ceiling were so hung 
with living green, that it looked a perfect grove, 
from every part of which, bright gleaming berries 
glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, 1 mistletoe, 2 

15 and ivy reflected back the light, as if so many 
little mirrors had been scattered there; and such 
a mighty blaze went roaring up the chimney, as 
that dull petrifaction of a hearth had never known 
in Scrooge's time, or Marley's, or for many and 

20 many a winter season gone. Heaped up on the 
floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, 

1 Holly. — A shrub with glossy green leaves and bright red ber- 
ries. A sprig of it was commonly used to ornament the Christ- 
mas pudding. 

2 Mistletoe. — A creeping plant which grows on trees, especially 
the oak. It was used by the Druids in their religious ceremonies. 

The mistletoe is hung up in English farm-houses and kitchens 
at Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of kissing 
the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. 
When the berries are all plucked the privilege ceases. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 1 09 

geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, 
sucking pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, 
plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chest- 
nuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, lus- 
cious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, 1 and seeth-5 
ing bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim 
with their delicious steam. In easy state upon 
this couch there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to see, 
who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike a 
Plenty's horn, 2 and held it up, high up, to shed 1 
its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round 
the door. 

" Come in ! " exclaimed the Ghost. " Come in 
and know me better, man!" Scrooge entered 
timidly. T 

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," said 
the Spirit. " Look upon me ! " Scrooge did so. 

" You have never seen the like of me before ! " 
exclaimed the Spirit. 

" Never," Scrooge made answer to it. a 

" Have never walked forth with the younger 
members of my family ; meaning (for I am very 
young) my elder brothers born in these later 
years ? " pursued the Phantom. 

1 Twelfth-cakes. — Made in honor of twelfth day, i. e., twelve days 
after Christmas, or the Epiphany. 

2 "Plenty's horn. — Cornucopia, horn of plenty. Ceres, the god- 
dess of grain, is drawn with a ram's horn in the left arm, filled 
with fruit and flowers. 



no THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" I don't think I have," said Scrooge. " I am 
afraid I have not. Have you had many brothers, 
Spirit?" 

" More than eighteen hundred," said the Ghost. 

5 " A tremendous family to provide for," muttered 

Scrooge. The Ghost of Christmas Present rose. 

" Spirit," said Scrooge submissively, " conduct 

me where you will. I went forth last night on 

compulsion, and I learned a lesson which is work- 

10 ing now. To-night, if you have aught to teach 

me, let me profit by it." 

" Touch my robe ! " 

Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast. 

Holly, mistletoe, red berries, ivy, turkey, geese, 
i S game, poultry, brawn, meat, pigs, sausages, 
oysters, pies, puddings, fruit, and punch, all 
vanished instantly. So did the room, the fire, the 
ruddy glow, the hour of night, and they stood in 
the city streets on Christmas morning. 1 They 
20 went on, invisible, as they had been before, into 
the suburbs of the town. It was a remarkable 
quality of the Ghost, that, notwithstanding his 
gigantic size, he could accommodate himself to 
any place with ease ; and that he stood beneath 
25 a low roof quite as gracefully and like a super- 
natural creature as it was possible he could have 
done in any lofty hall. 

*A charming description of the busy London streets about the 
great markets on Christmas morning is here omitted. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. m 

And perhaps it was the pleasure the good Spirit 
had in showing off this power of his, or else it 
was his own kind, generous, hearty nature, and 
his sympathy with all poor men, that led him 
straight to Scrooge's clerk's: for there he went, 5 
and took Scrooge with him, holding to his robe ; 
and on the threshold of the door the Spirit smiled 
and stopped to bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling 
with the sprinklings of his torch. Think of that ! 
Bob had but fifteen " Bob" 2 a week himself; he IO 
pocketed on Saturdays but fifteen copies of his 
Christian name ; and yet the ghost of Christmas 
Present blessed his four-roomed house ! 

Then up rose Mrs. Cratchit, Cratchit's wife, 
dressed out but poorly in a twice-turned gown, I5 
but brave in ribbons, which are cheap and make a 
goodly show for sixpence; and she laid the cloth, 
assisted by Belinda Cratchit, second of her daugh- 
ters, also brave in ribbons, while Master Peter 
Cratchit plunged a fork into the saucepan of pota- 20 
toes, and getting the corners of his monstrous shirt- 
collar (Bob's private property, conferred upon his 
son and heir in honor of the day) into his mouth, 
rejoiced to find himself so gallantly attired, and 
yearned to show his linen in the fashionable 25 
parks. And now two smaller Cratchits, boy and 

1 " Bob.'" — An English shilling. Contraction of baabee, a de- 
based copper coin, value of halfpenny, issued in the reign of 
James VI. of Scotland. 



112 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

girl, came tearing in, screaming that outside the 
baker's they had smelt the goose, and known it 
for their own ; and basking in luxurious thoughts 
of sage and onion, these young Cratchits danced 
5 about the table, and exalted Master Peter Cratchit 
to the skies, while he (not proud, although his 
collars nearly choked him) blew the fire, until 
the slow potatoes bubbling up knocked loudly at 
the saucepan-lid to be let out and peeled. 
to " What has ever got your precious father 
then ? " said Mrs. Cratchit. " And your brother, 
Tiny Tim! And Martha warn't as late last 
Christmas Day by half an hour ! " 

" Here's Martha, mother! " said a girl, appear- 
15 ing as she spoke. 

" Here's Martha, mother ! " cried the two young 
Cratchits. " Hurrah! There's such a goose, 
Martha!" 

" Why, bless your heart alive, my dear, how 
20 late you are !" said Mrs. Cratchit, kissing her a 
dozen times, and taking off her shawl and bonnet 
for her with officious zeal. 

" We'd a deal of work to finish up last night," 
replied the girl, " and had to clear away this 
25 morning, mother! " 

" Well ! never mind so long as you are come," 
said Mrs. Cratchit. " Sit ye down before the 
fire, my dear, and have a warm, Lord bless ye ! " 

"No, no! There's father coming," cried the 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 113 

two young Cratchits, who were everywhere at 
once. " Hide, Martha, hide! " 

So Martha hid herself, and in came little Bob, 
the father, with at least three feet of comforter, 
exclusive of the fringe, hanging down before 5 
him ; and his threadbare clothes darned up and 
brushed, to look seasonable ; and Tiny Tim upon 
his shoulder. Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little 
crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron 
frame ! IO 

" Why, where's our Martha ? " cried Bob 
Cratchit, looking round. 

" Not coming," said Mrs. Cratchit. 

" Not coming ! " said Bob, with a sudden de- 
clension in his high spirits ; for he had been 15 
Tim's blood horse all the way from church, and 
had come home rampant. " Not coming upon 
Christmas Day! " 

Martha didn't like to see him disappointed, if 
it were only in joke, so she came out prematurely 20 
from behind the closet door, and ran into his 
arms, while the two young Cratchits hustled 
Tiny Tim, and bore him off into the wash-house, 
that he might hear the pudding singing in the 
copper. 25 

" And how did little Tim behave ? " asked Mrs. 
Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his incre- 
dulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his 
heart's content. 



H4 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" As good as gold," said Bob, " and better. 
Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself 
so much, and thinks the strangest things you 
ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he 

5 hoped the people saw him in the church, because 

he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to 

them to remember, upon Christmas Day, who 

made lame beggars walk and blind men see." 1 

Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them 

iothis, and trembled more when he said that Tiny 
Tim was growing strong and hearty. 

His active little crutch was heard upon the floor, 
and back came Tiny Tim before another word 
was spoken, escorted by his brother and sister to 

15 his stool beside the fire ; and while Bob, turning 
up his cuffs — as if, poor fellow, they were capable 
of being made more shabby — compounded some 
hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and 
stirred it round and round and put it on the hob 

20 to simmer, Master Peter and the two ubiquitous 
young Cratchits went to fetch the goose, with 
which they soon returned in high procession. 

Such a bustle ensued that you might have 
thought a goose the rarest of all birds ; a feathered 

25 phenomenon, to which a black swan was a matter 
of course — and in truth it was something very like 
it in that house. Mrs. Cratchit made the gravy 
(ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing 

1 Beggars walk, etc. — Cf. Matt. ix. 2-9, 27-32 ; John v. 5-10. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 115 

hot ; Master Peter mashed the potatoes with in- 
credible vigor ; Miss Belinda sweetened up the 
apple sauce ; Martha dusted the hot plates ; Bob 
took Tiny Tim beside him in a tiny corner at the 
table ; the two young Cratchits set chairs for every- 5 
body, not forgetting themselves, and mounting 
guard upon their posts, crammed spoons into 
their mouths, lest they should shriek for goose 
before their turn came to be helped. At last the 
dishes were set on and grace was said. Itwasio 
succeeded by a breathless pause, as Mrs. Cratchit, 
looking slowly all along the carving knife, pre- 
pared to plunge it in the breast ; but when she did, 
and when the long expected gush of stuffing is- 
sued forth, one murmur of delight arose all round IS 
the board, and even Tiny Tim, excited by the 
two young Cratchits, beat on the table with the 
handle of his knife, and feebly cried Hurrah ! 

There never was such a goose. Bob said he 
didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked. 2 o 
Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness, 
were the themes of universal admiration. Eked 
out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was 
a sufficient dinner for the whole family ; indeed, 
as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying 25 
one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they 
hadn't ate it all at last ! Yet everyone had had 
enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular 
were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows ! 



n6 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

But now the plates being changed by Miss Be- 
linda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone — too ner- 
vous to bear witnesses — to take the pudding up, 
and bring it in. 
5 Suppose it should not be done enough ! Sup- 
pose it should break in turning out ! Suppose 
somebody should have got over the wall of the 
backyard, and stolen it, while they were merry 
with the goose — a supposition at which the two 

10 young Cratchits became livid ! All sorts of hor- 
rors were supposed. 

Hallo! A great deal of steam ! The pudding 
was out of the copper. A smell like a washing- 
day ! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating- 

15 house and a pastrycook's next door to each other, 
with a laundress's next door to that ! That was 
the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit 
entered — flushed, but smiling proudly — with the 
pudding, like a speckled cannon ball, so hard and 

20 firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern 1 of ignited 
brandy, and bedight 2 with Christmas holly stuck 
into the top. 

Oh, a wonderful pudding ! Bob Cratchit said, 
and calmly too, that he regarded it as the great- 

25 est success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their 
marriage. Mrs. Cratchit said that, now the 
weight was off her mind, she would confess 

1 Quartern. — One-fourth of a pint, a gill. 
"Bedight. — To adorn, to dress ; a word little used. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. H7 

she had her doubts about the quantity of flour. 
Everybody had something to say about it, but 
nobody said or thought it was at all a small 
pudding for a large family. It would have been 
flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have 5 
blushed to hint at such a thing. 

At last the dinner was all done, the cloth 
was cleared, the hearth was swept, and the 
fire made up. The compound in the jug being 
tasted, and considered perfect, apples and 10 
oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel 
full of chestnuts on the fire. Then all the 
Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what 
Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one; 
and at Bob Cratchit's elbow stood the family dis-15 
play of glass, — two tumblers and a custard-cup 
without a handle. 

These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, 
as well as golden goblets would have done ; and 
Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the 20 
chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked 
noisily. Then Bob proposed : 

"A merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God 
bless us ! " 

Which all the family re-echoed. -5 

" God bless us every one ! " said Tiny Tim, the 
last of all. 

He sat very close to his father's side, upon his 
little stool. Bob held his withered little hand in 



US THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep 
him by his side, and dreaded that he might be 
taken from him. Bob Cratchit told them how he 
had a situation in his eye for Master Peter, which 

5 would bring in, if obtained, full five-and-sixpence 
weekly. The two young Cratchits laughed tre- 
mendously at the idea of Peter's being a man of 
business; and Peter himself looked thoughtfully 
at the fire from between his collars, as if he were 

10 deliberating what particular investments he 
should favor when he came into the receipt of 
that bewildering income. Martha, who was a 
poor apprentice at a milliner's, then told them 
what kind of work she had to do, and how many 

15 hours she worked at a stretch, and how she 
meant to lie abed to-morrow morning for a good 
long rest ; to-morrow being a holiday she passed 
at home. Also, how she had seen a countess and 
a lord some days before; and how the lord "was 

20 much about as tall as Peter"; at which Peter 
pulled up his collars so high that you couldn't 
have seen his head if you had been there. All 
this time the chestnuts and the jug went round 
and round ; and by and by they had a song about 

2 5 a lost child traveling in the snow, from Tiny 
Tim, who had a plaintive little voice, and sang it 
very well indeed. 

There was nothing of high mark in this. They 
were not a handsome family ; they were not well 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 119 

dressed ; their shoes were far from being water- 
proof; their clothes were scant}-; and Peter 
might have known, and very likely did, the inside 
of a pawnbroker's. But they were happy, grate- 
ful, pleased with one another, and contented with 5 
the time ; and when they faded, and looked hap- 
pier yet in the bright sprinklings of the Spirit's 
torch at parting, Scrooge had his eye upon them, 
and especially on Tiny Tim, until the last. 1 

And now, without a word of warning from the 10 
Ghost, they stood upon a bleak and desert moor, 
where monstrous masses of rude stone were cast 
about, as though it were the burial place of giants • 
and water spread itself wheresoever it listed ; or 
would have done so, but for the frost that held is 
it prisoner ; and nothing grew but moss and furze 
and coarse, rank grass. Down in the west the 
setting sun had left a streak of fiery red, which 
glared upon the desolation for an instant, like a 
sullen eye, and frowning lower, lower, lower yet, 20 
was lost in the thick gloom of darkest night. 

" What place is this ? " asked Scrooge. 

1 Scrooge and the Ghost now speed on. They stand upon the 
bleak and deserted moor where the miners are singing their Christ- 
mas songs. They fly out on the sea and visit the solitary light- 
house and hear the two keepers wish each other "Merry Christmas." 
Out upon the dark and heaving ocean they speed and stand beside 
the helmsman at the wheel, the lookout in the bow, and the dark, 
ghostly figures on deck, and every man among them is humming 
a Christmas tune. The text is here omitted. 



120 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

"A place where miners live who labor in the 
bowels of the earth," returned the Spirit. " But 
they know me. See ! " 

A light shone from the window of a hut, and 

5 swiftly they advanced toward it. Passing through 
the wall of mud and stone, they found a cheerful 
company assembled round a glowing fire. An 
old, old man and woman, with their children and 
their children's children, and another generation 

10 beyond that, all decked out gayly in their holiday 
attire. The old man, in a voice that seldom rose 
above the howling of the wind upon the barren 
waste, was singing them a Christmas song — it had 
been a very old song when he was a boy — 

15 and from time to time they all joined in the 
chorus. So surely as they raised their voices the 
old man got quite blithe and loud ; and so surely 
as they stopped, his vigor sank again. 

The Spirit did not tarry here, but bade Scrooge 

20 hold his robe, and passing on above the moor, 
sped — whither? Not to sea? To sea. To 
Scrooge's horror, looking back, he saw the last of 
the land, a frightful range of rocks, behind them; 
and his ears were deafened by the thundering of 

25 water, as it rolled, and roared, and raged among 
the dreadful caverns it had worn, and fiercely 
tried to undermine the earth. 

Built upon a dismal reef of sunken rock, some 
league or so from shore, on which the waters 



A CHRIST J/ AS CAROL. I 21 

chafed and dashed, the wild year through, there 
stood a solitary lighthouse. Great heaps of sea- 
weed clung to its base, and storm-birds — born of 
the wind one might suppose, as seaweed of the 
water — rose and fell about it, like the waves they s 
skimmed. 

But even here, two men who watched the light 
had made a fire, that through the loophole in the 
thick stone wall shed out a ray of brightness on 
the awful sea. Joining their horny hands over IO 
the rough table at which they sat, they wished 
each other Merry Christmas in their can of grog; 
and one of them — the elder, too, with his face all 
damaged and scarred with hard weather, as the 
figure-head of an old ship might be — struck up a IS 
sturdy song that was like a gale in itself. 

Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and 
heaving sea — on, on — until, being far away, as he 
told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a 
ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the 20 
wheel, the lookout in the bow, the officers who 
had the watch ; dark, ghostly figures in their sev- 
eral stations ; but every man among them hummed 
a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or 
spoke below his breath to his companion of some 25 
bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes 
belonging to it. And every man on board, wak- 
ing or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder 
word for one another on that day than on any 



122 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

day in the year; and had shared to some extent 
in its festivities; and had remembered those he 
cared for at a distance, and had known that they 
delighted to remember him. 
5 It was a great surprise to Scrooge, while thus 
engaged, to hear a hearty laugh. It was a much 
greater surprise to Scrooge to recognize it as his 
own nephew's, and to find himself in a bright, 
dry, gleaming room, with the Spirit standing 
10 smiling by his side, and looking at that same 
nephew. 

It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of 
things, that while there is infection in disease 
and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irre- 
sistibly contagious as laughter and good humor. 
When Scrooge's nephew laughed in this way, 
Scrooge's niece, by marriage, laughed as heartily 
as he. And their assembled friends, being not a 
bit behind, roared out lustily. 
ao " He said that Christmas was a humbug, as I 
live!" cried Scrooge's nephew. "He believed 
it, too ! " 

" More shame for ; him, Fred ! " said Scrooge's 
niece indignantly. Bless those women ! they 
25 never do anything by halves. They are always 
in earnest. 

She was very pretty ; exceedingly pretty. 
With a dimpled, surprised-looking, capital face ; 
a ripe little mouth that seemed made to be kissed 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 123 

— as no doubt it was; all kinds of good little 
dots about her chin, that melted into one another 
when she laughed ; and the sunniest pair of eyes 
you ever saw in any little creature's head. Alto- 
gether she was what you would have called pro- 5 
voking, you know ; but satisfactory, too. Oh, 
perfectly satisfactory ! 

" He's a comical old fellow," said Scrooge's 
nephew, "that's the truth; and not so pleasant 
as he might be. However, his offenses carry IO 
their own punishment, and I have nothing to say 
against him. Who suffers by his ill whims? 
Himself always ! Here, he takes it into his head 
to dislike us, and he won't come and dine with 
us. What's the consequence? He don't lose I5 
much of a dinner." 

"Indeed, I think he loses a very good dinner," 
interrupted Scrooge's niece. Everybody else 
said the same, and they must be allowed to have 
been competent judges, because they had just 2Q 
had dinner; and with the dessert upon the table, 
were clustered round the fire, by lamplight. 

" Well, I am glad to hear it," said Scrooge's 
nephew, " because I haven't any great faith in 
these young housekeepers. What do you say, 25 
Topper? " 

Topper had clearly got his eye upon one of 
Scrooge's niece's sisters, for he answered that 
a bachelor was a wretched outcast, who had 



124 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

no right to express an opinion on the subject. 
Whereat Scrooge's niece's sister — the plump one 
with the lace tucker, not the one with the roses — 
blushed. 

5 After tea, they had some music. For they were 
a musical family, and knew what they were about 
when they sung a glee or catch, I can assure you ; 
especially Topper, who could growl away in 
the bass like a good one, and never swell the 

large veins in his forehead, or get red in the face 
over it. 

But they didn't devote thew hole evening to 
music. After awhile they played at forfeits ; for 
it is good to be children sometimes, and never 

5 better than at Christmas, when its mighty Foun- 
der was a child himself. There was first a game at 
blind man's buff. Of course there was. And I 
no more believe Topper was really blind than 
I believe he had eyes in his boots. The 

3 way he went after the plump sister in the lace 
tucker, was an outrage on the credulity of 
human nature. Knocking down the fire-irons, 
tumbling over the chairs, bumping up against 
the piano, smothering himself among the 

5 curtains; wherever she went, there went he! 
He always knew where the plump sister was. He 
wouldn't catch anybody else. If you had fallen 
up against him (as some of them did) on purpose, 
he would have made a feint of endeavoring to 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 1 25 

seize you which would have been an affront 
to your understanding-, and would instantly 
have sidled off in the direction of the plump 
sister. 

" Here is a new game," said Scrooge. "Ones 
half-hour, Spirit, only one!" 

It was a game called Yes and No, where Scrooge's 
nephew had to think of something, and the rest 
must find out what ; he only answering to their 
questions yes or no, as the case was. The brisk « 
fire of questioning to which he was exposed elic- 
ited from him that he was thinking of an animal, 
a live animal, rather a disagreeable animal, a sav- 
age animal, an animal that growled and grunted 
sometimes, and talked sometimes, and lived in i S 
London, and walked about the streets, and wasn't 
made a show of, and wasn't led by anybody, and 
didn't live in a menagerie, and was never killed in 
a market, and was not a horse, or an ass, or a cow, 
or a bull, or a tiger, or a dog, or a pig, or a cat, or 20 
a bear. At every fresh question that was put 
to him, this nephew burst into a fresh roar of 
laughter, and was so inexpressibly tickled that he 
was obliged to get up off the sofa, and stamp. 
At last the plump sister, falling into a similar state, 25 
cried out : 

" I have found it out ! I know what it is, 
Fred ! I know what it is ! " 

"What is it?" cried Fred. 



126 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" It is your Uncle Scro-o-o-o-oge ! " 

Which it certainly was. 

Uncle Scrooge had imperceptibly become so 
gay and light of heart that he would have 
5 pledged the unconscious company in return, and 
thanked them in an inaudible speech, if the Ghost 
had given him time. But the whole scene passed 
off in the breath of the last word spoken by his 
nephew ; and he and the Spirit were again upon 
10 their travels. 

Much they saw, and far they went, and many 
homes they visited, but always with a happy 
end. The Spirit stood beside sick-beds, and they 
were cheerful ; on foreign lands, and they were 
15 close at home ; by struggling men, and they were 
patient in their greater hope ; by poverty, and 
it was rich. In almshouse, hospital, and jail, in 
misery's every refuge, where vain man in his 
little brief authority had not made fast the door, 
20 and barred the Spirit out, he left his blessing, and 
taught Scrooge his precepts. 

It was a long night, if it were only a night ; 
but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the 
Christmas holidays appeared to be condensed into 
25 the space of time they passed together. It was 
strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unal- 
tered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, 
clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, 
but never spoke of it, until they left a chil- 






A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I2J 

dren'sTwelfth Night party, 1 when, looking at the 
Spirit as they stood together in an open place, 
he noticed that its hair was gray. 

"Are spirits' lives so short? "asked Scrooge. 

" My life upon this globe is very brief," replied 5 
the Ghost. " It ends to-night." 

" To-night ? " cried Scrooge, 

" To-night, at midnight. Hark ! The time is 
drawing near." 

The chimes were ringing the three-quarters 10 
past eleven at that moment. 

The bell struck twelve. 

Scrooge looked about him for the Ghost, and 
saw it not. As the last stroke ceased to vibrate, 
he remembered the prediction of old Jacob Mar-i 5 
ley, and lifting up his eyes, beheld a solemn 
Phantom, draped and hooded, coming like a mist 
along the ground toward him. 

1 The Twelfth Night (twelfth after Christmas) was in olden time 
the season ofuniversal festivity — of masques, pageants, feasts, and 
traditionary sports. For full explanation, see cyclopedia articles 
on "Epiphany" and "Bean King's Festival," and "January 
6th," in Chamber's " Book of Days." 



STAVE IV. 

THE LAST OF THE SPIRITS. 

THE Phantom slowly, gravely, silently ap- 
proached. When it came near him, Scrooge 
bent down upon his knee ; for in the very air 
through which this Spirit moved it seemed to 
5 scatter gloom and misery. 

It was shrouded in a deep black garment, which 
concealed its head, its face, its form, and left 
nothing of it visible, save one outstretched hand. 

He felt that it was tall and stately when it came 
10 beside him, and that its mysterious presence filled 
him with a solemn dread. He knew no more, 
for the Spirit neither spoke nor moved. 

" I am in the presence of the Ghost of Christ- 
mas Yet To Come?" said Scrooge. "Ghost of 
15 the Future ! " he exclaimed, "I fear you more 
than any specter I have seen. But as I know 
your purpose is to do me good, and as I hope to 
live to be another man from what I was, I am 
prepared to bear you company, and do it with a 
20 thankful heart. Will you not speak tome?" 

It gave him no reply. The hand was pointed 
straight before them. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 129 

"Lead on!" said Scrooge — " lead on! The 
night is waning fast, and it is precious time to 
me, I know. Lead on, Spirit ! " 

The Phantom moved away as it had come 
toward him. Scrooge followed in the shadow of 5 
its dress, which bore him up, he thought, and 
carried him along. 

They scarcely seemed to enter the city ; for the 
city rather seemed to spring up about them, and 
encompass them of its own act. But there they™ 
were in the heart of it ; on 'Change, among the 
merchants, who hurried up and down, and chinked 
the money in their pockets, and conversed in 
groups, and looked at their watches, and trifled 
thoughtfully with their great gold seals, and so 15 
forth, as Scrooge had seen them often. 

The Spirit stopped beside one little knot of 
business men. Observing that the hand was 
pointed to them, Scrooge advanced to listen to 
their talk. 2Q 

" No," said a great fat man with a monstrous 
chin, " I don't know much about it either way. I 
only know he's dead." 

" When did he die?" inquired another. 

" Last night, I believe." 25 

"Why, what was the matter with him?" asked 
a third, taking a vast quantity of snuff out of a 
very large snuffbox. " I thought he'd never 
die." 



13° THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" God knows," said the first, with a yawn. 
" What has he done with his money?" asked a 
red-faced gentleman with a pendulous excrescence 
on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills of 

sa turkey-cock. 

" I haven't heard," said the man with a large 
chin, yawning again. " Left it to his company, 
perhaps. He hasn't left it to me. That's all I 
know." 

ro This pleasantry was received with a general 
laugh. 

Scrooge was at first inclined to be surprised 
that the Spirit should attach importance to con- 
versations apparently so trivial ; but feeling 

15 assured that they must have some hidden pur- 
pose, he set himself to consider what it was likely 
to be. They could scarcely be supposed to have 
any bearing on the death of Jacob, his old part- 
ner, for that was Past, and this Ghost's province 

20 was the Future. 

He looked about in that very place for his own 
image; but another man stood in his accustomed 
corner, and though the clock pointed to his usual 
time of day for being there, he saw no likeness of 

25 himself among the multitudes that poured in 
through the Porch. It gave him little surprise, 
however; for he had been revolving in his mind 
a change of life, and thought and hoped he saw 
his newborn resolutions carried out in this. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 131 

They left the busy scene, and went into an 
obscure part of the town, where Scrooge had 
never penetrated before, although he recognized 
its situation, and its bad repute. The ways were 
foul and narrow ; the shops and houses wretched 55 
the people half-naked, drunken, slipshod, ugly, 
and the whole quarter reeked with crime, with 
filth and misery. 

Far in this den of infamous resort, there was 
a low-browed, beetling-shop, below a penthouse m 
roof, where iron, old rags, bottles, bones, and 
greasy offal were bought. Upon the floor within 
were piled up heaps of rusty keys, nails, chains, 
hinges, files, scales, weights, and refuse iron of 
all kinds. I5 

Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a 
charcoal stove, made of old bricks, was a gray- 
haired rascal, nearly seventy years of age, who 
smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retire- 
ment. 

Scrooge and the Phantom came into the presence 
of this man, just as a woman with a heavy bundle 
slunk into the shop. But she had scarcely en- 
tered, when another woman, similarly laden, came 
in too; and she was closely followed by a man 25 
in faded black. After a short period of blank 
astonishment, in which the old man with the 
pipe had joined them, they all three burst into a 
laugh, 



I3 2 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

" Let the charwoman alone to be the first!" 
cried she who had entered first. " Let the laun- 
dress alone to be the second; and let the under- 
taker's man alone to be the third. Look here, old 
s Joe, here's a chance ! If we haven't all three met 
here without meaning it ! " 

" You couldn't have met in a better place," 
said old Joe, removing the pipe from his mouth. 
" Come into the parlor. You were made free of 
ioit long ago, you know ; and the other two aint 
strangers. Come into the parlor. Come into 
the parlor ! " 

The parlor was a space behind a screen of rags. 

The old man raked the fire together with an old 

15 stair-rod, and having trimmed his smoky lamp 

(for it was night) with the stem of his pipe, put 

it in his mouth again. 

While he did this, the woman who had already 

spoken threw her bundle on the floor and sat down 

20 in a flaunting manner on a stool; crossing her 

elbows on her knees, and looking with a bold 

defiance at the other two. 

" What odds then ! What odds, Mrs. Dilber ? " 

said the woman. " Every person has a right to 

25 take care of themselves. He always did ! Who's 

the worse for the loss of a few things like these ? 

Not a dead man, I suppose. " 

"No, indeed," said Mrs. Dilber, laughing. 

" If he wanted to keep 'em after he was dead," 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 153 

pursued the woman, " why wasn't he natural in his 
lifetime? If he had been, he'd have had some- 
body to look after him when he was struck with 
Death, instead of lying gasping out his last there, 
alone by himself. " 5 

"It's the truest word that ever was spoke," 
said Mrs. Dilber. " It's a judgment on him." 

" I wish it was a little heavier judgment," replied 
the woman; " and it should have been, you may 
depend upon it, if I could have laid my hands on 10 
anything else. Open the bundle, old Joe, and let 
me know the value of it. Speak out plain. I'm 
not afraid to be the first, nor afraid for them to 
see it." 

Joe went down on his knees for the greater^ 
convenience of opening it, and having unfastened 
a great many knots, dragged out a large, heavy 
roll of some dark stuff. 

"What do you call this? "said Joe. "Bed- 
curtains ! " 20 

" Ah ! " returned the woman, laughing and 
leaning forward on her crossed arms. " Bed- 
curtains. Don't drop that oil upon the blankets, 
now." 

" His blankets?" asked Joe. 25 

"Whose else's do you think?" replied the 
woman. " He isn't likely to take cold without 
'em, I dare say. Ahl You may look through 
that shirt till your eyes ache ; but you won't fin4 



134 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

a hole in it, nor a threadbare place. It's the best 
he had, and a fine one, too. They'd have wasted 
it if it hadn't been for me." 

Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror. 

5 " Spirit!" said Scrooge, shuddering from head 

to foot, " I see, I see. The case of this unhappy 

man might be my own. My life tends that way 

now. Merciful Heaven, what is this ? " 

He recoiled in terror, for the scene had changed, 
ioand now he almost touched a bare, uncurtained 
bed. 

A pale light, rising in the outer air, fell straight 
upon the bed ; and on it, plundered and bereft, 
unwatched, unwept, uncared for, was the body of 
15 this man. 

" Spirit ! " he said, " this is a fearful place. In 
leaving it, I shall not leave its lesson, trust me. 
Let us go ! * Let me see some tenderness con- 
nected with a death, or that dark chamber, Spirit, 
20 which we left just now, will be forever present to 
me." 

The Ghost conducted him through several 
streets familiar to his feet ; and, as they went 
along, Scrooge looked here and there to find him- 

1 Scrooge now asks the Ghost to show him any pei-son in the 
town who felt emotion caused by this man's death. A touching 
scene is introduced of a care-worn husband and his anxious wife, 
who would have been driven out of their home by this man just 
dead. The wife with clasped hands thanks God for his death, but 
prays forgiveness the next moment. 






A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 1 35 

self, but nowhere was he to be seen. They 
entered poor Bob Cratchit's house, the dwelling 
he had visited before, and found the mother and 
the children seated round the fire. 

Quiet. Very quiet. The noisy little Cratchits 5 
were as still as statues in one corner, and sat 
looking up at Peter, who had a book before him. 
The mother and her daughters were engaged in 
sewing. But surely they were very quiet! 

" ' And he took a child, and set him in the 10 
midst of them.' " 1 

Where had Scrooge heard those words ? He 
had not dreamed them. The boy must have 
read them out, as he and the Spirit crossed the 
threshold. Why did he not go on ? 15 

The mother laid her work upon the table, and 
put her hand up to her face. 

" The color hurts my eyes," she said. 

The color ? Ah, poor Tiny Tim ! 

"They're better now, again," said Cratchit's 20 
wife. " It makes them weak by candle-light ; 
and I wouldn't show weak eyes to your father 
when he comes home, for the world. It must be 
near his time." 

"Past it, rather," Peter answered, shutting up 25 
his book. " But I think he has walked a little 
slower than he used, these few last evenings, 
mother." 

1 " And he took a child" etc. Cf. Markix. 36. 



136 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

They were very quiet again. At last she said, 
and in a steady, cheerful voice, that only faltered 
once : 

'* I have known him walk with — I have known 
5 him walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder very 
fast indeed." 

" And so have I," cried Peter. " Often." 

" And so have I," exclaimed another. So had 
all. 
5 " But he was very light to carry," she re- 
sumed, intent upon her work, "and his father 
loved him so that it was no trouble ; no 
trouble. And there is your father at the 
door! " 
5 She hurried out to meet him; and little Bob 
in his comforter — he had need of it, poor fellow — 
came in. His tea was ready for him on the hob, 
and they all tried who should help him to it 
most. Then the two young Cratchits got upon 
3 his knees and laid, each child, a little cheek 
against his face, as if they said, " Don't mind it, 
father." " Don't be grieved ! " 

Bob was very cheerful with them, and spoke 

pleasantly to all the family. He looked at the 

5 work upon the table and praised the industry and 

speed of Mrs. Cratchit and the girls. They would 

be done long before Sunday. 

"Sunday! You went to-day, then, Robert ? " 
said his wife. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 137 

"Yes, my dear," returned Bob. "I wish you 
could have gone. It would have done you good 
to see how green a place it is. But you'll see it 
often. I promised him that I would walk there 
on a Sunday. My little, little child ! " cried Bob, 5 
" my little child ! " 

He broke down all at once. He couldn't help 
it. If he could have helped it, he and his child 
would have been farther apart perhaps than they 
were. 10 

He left the room and went upstairs into the 
room above, which was lighted cheerfully and 
hung with Christmas. There was a chair set 
close beside the child, and there were signs of 
someone having been there lately. Poor Bob sati 5 
down in it, and when he had thought a little and 
composed himself, he kissed the little face. He 
was reconciled to what had happened, and went 
down again quite happy. 

They drew about the fire, and talked ; the girls 2C 
and mother working still. Bob told them of the 
extraordinary kindness of Mr. Scrooge's nephew, 
whom he had scarcely seen but once, and who, 
meeting him in the street that day, and seeing 
that he looked a little — " just a little down you 35 
know," said Bob, inquired what had happened to 
distress him. "On which," said Bob, "for he is 
the pleasantest-spoken gentleman you ever heard, 
I told him. ' I am heartily sorry for it, Mr. 



t'3? THE ART OF READING ALOUD . 

Cratchit,' he said, ' and heartily sorry for your 
good wife.' By the bye, how he ever knew that I 
don't know." 

"Knew what, my dear? " 
5 " Why, that you were a good wife," replied 
Bob. 

" Everybody knows that ! " said Peter. 

" Very well observed, my boy ! " cried Bob. 

" I hope they do. ' Heartily sorry/ he said, ' for 

I0 your good wife. If I can be of service to you in 

any way,' he said, giving me his card, ' that's 

wherel live. Pray come to me.' Now, it wasn't," 

cried Bob, " for the sake of anything he might be 

able to do for us, so much as for his kind way, 

I5 that this was quite delightful. It really seemed 

as if he had known our Tiny Tim, and felt with 

us." 

"I'm sure he's a good soul!" said Mrs. 
Cratchit. 
20 " You would be sure of it, my dear," returned 
Bob, " if you saw and spoke to him. I shouldn't 
be at all surprised — mark what I say — if he got 
Peter a better situation." 

" Only hear that, Peter," said Mrs. Cratchit. 
25 " And then," cried one of the girls, " Peter will 
be keeping company with someone, and setting 
up for himself." 

" Get along with you," retorted Peter, grin- 
ning. 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 1 39 

" It's just as likely as not," said Bob, " one of 
these days; though there's plenty of time for 
that, my dear. But however and whenever we 
part from one another, I am sure we shall none 
of us forget poor Tiny Tim — shall we? — or this s 
first parting that there was among us?" 

" Never, father ! " cried they all. 

"And I know," said Bob, " I know, my dears, 
that when we recollect how patient and how 
mild he was — although he was a little, little child 10 
— we shall not quarrel easily among ourselves, 
and forget poor Tiny Tim in doing it." 

"No, never, father! " they all cried again. 

"I am very happy," said little Bob, "I am 
very happy ! " I5 

Mrs. Cratchit kissed him, his daughters kissed 
him, the two young Cratchits kissed him, and 
Peter and himself shook hands. Spirit of Tiny 
Tim, the childish essence was from God ! 

"Specter," said Scrooge, " something informs 20 
me that our parting moment is at hand. I know 
it, but I know not how. Tell me what man that 
was whom we saw lying dead ? " 

The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come conveyed 
him, as before — though at a different time, he 2S 
thought ; indeed, there seemed no order in these 
latter visions, save that they were in the Future — 
into the resorts of business men, but showed him 
not himself. Indeed, the Spirit did not stay for 



140 THE ART OF HEADING ALOUD. 

anything, but went straight on, as to the end just 
now desired, until besought by Scrooge to tarry 
for a moment. L ? 

"This court," said Scrooge, "through which 

5 we hurry now, is where my place of occupation is 

and has been for a length of time. I see the 

house. Let me behold what I shall be in days 

to come." 

The Spirit stopped ; the hand was pointed else- 
xo where. 

" The house is yonder," Scrooge exclaimed. 
"Why do you point away? " 

The inexorable finger underwent no change. 

Scrooge hastened to the window of his office, 

is and looked in. It was an office still, but not his. 

The furniture was not the same, and the figure 

in the chair was not himself. The Phantom 

pointed as before. 

He joined it once again, and, wondering why 
20 and whither he had gone, accompanied it until 
they reached an iron gate. He paused to look 
round before entering. 

A churchyard. Here, then, the wretched man 
whose name he had now to learn lay underneath 
25 the ground. It was a worthy place. Walled in 
by houses ; overrun by grass and weeds, the 
growth of vegetation's death, not life ; choked up 
with too much burying ; fat with repleted appe- 
tite. A worthy place ! 






A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 14 i 

The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed 
down to one. He advanced toward it, trembling. 
The Phantom was exactly as it had been, but he 
dreaded tha the saw new meaning in its solemn 
shape. 5 

" Before I draw nearer to that stone to which 
you point," said Scrooge, " answer me one ques- 
tion. Are these the shadows of the things that 
Will be, or are they shadows of the things that 
May be, only?" 1 

Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave 
by which it stood. 

" Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, 
to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said 
Scrooge. " But if the courses be departed from. 1 
the ends will change. Say it is thus with what 
you show me ! " 

The Spirit was immovable as ever. 

Scrooge crept toward it, trembling as he went ; 
and, following the finger, read upon the stone of 2 
the neglected grave his own name, EBENEZER 
Scrooge. 

" Am / that man who lay upon the bed ? " he 
cried, upon his knees. 

The ringer pointed from the grave to him, and 2 
back again. 

" No, Spirit ! Oh, no, no! " 

The finger still was there. 

" Spirit ! " he cried, tightly clutching at his robe, 



142 THE ART OF READING ALOUD, 

" hear me! I am not the man I was. I will not 
be the man I must have been but for this inter- 
course. Why show me this if I am past all hope ? " 
For the first time the hand appeared to shake. 

s " Good Spirit," he pursued, as down upon the 
ground he fell before it, " your nature inter- 
cedes for me and pities me. Assure me that I 
yet may change these shadows you have shown 
me by an altered life ! " 

IO The kind hand trembled. 

" I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try 
to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, 
the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all 
Three shall strive within me. I will not shutout 

i 5 the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may 
sponge away the writing on the stone ! " 

In his agony, he caught the spectral hand. It 
sought to free itself, but he was strong in his en- 
treaty, and detained it. The Spirit, stronger yet, 

20 repulsed him. 

Holding up his hands in a last prayer to have 
his fate reversed, he saw an alteration in the Phan- 
tom's hood and dress. It shrunk, collapsed, and 
dwindled down into a bedpost. 



STAVE V. 

THE END OF IT. 

YES ! and the bedpost was his own. The bed 
was his own, the room was his own. Best and 
happiest of all, the time before him was his own, 
to make amends in ! 

" I will live in the Past, the Present, and the 
Future ! " Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out 
of bed. " The Spirits of all Three shall strive 
within me. Old Jacob Marley! Heaven and the 
Christmas Time be praised for this ! I say it on 
my knees, old Jacob ; on my knees ! " x 

He was so fluttered, and so glowing with his 
good intentions, that his broken voice would 
scarcely answer to his call. He had been sob- 
bing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and 
his face was wet with tears. z 

" They are not torn down," cried Scrooge, 
folding one of his bed-curtains in his arms," they 
are not torn down, rings and all. They are here 
— I am here — the shadows of the things that 
would have been may be dispelled. They will? 
be — I know they will ! " 

His hands were busy with his garments all this 



144 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

time ; turning them inside out, putting them on 
upside down, tearing them, mislaying them, mak- 
ing them parties to every kind of extrava- 
gance. 

5 "I don't know what to do !" cried Scrooge, 
laughing and crying in the same breath ; and 
making a perfect Laocoon 1 of himself with his 
stockings. " I am as light as a feather, I am as 
happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, 

o I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christ- 
mas to everybody ! A happy New Year to all 
the world ! Hallo, here ! Whoop ! Hallo ! " 

He had frisked into the sitting room, and was 
now standing there, perfectly winded. 

5 " There's the saucepan that the gruel was in ! " 
cried Scrooge, starting off again, and going round 
the fireplace. " There's the door by which the 
Ghost of Jacob Marley entered ! There's the corner 
where the Ghost of Christmas Present sat ! There's 

the window where I saw the wandering Spirit! 
It's all right, it's all true, it all happened. Ha, 
ha, ha !" 

Really, for a man who had been out of practice 
for so many years, it was a splendid laugh, a most 

1 Laocoon. — A Trojan priest, who, with his two sons, was crushed 
by serpents. Thomson, in his " Liberty," has described the 
group — which represents these three in their death agony. This 
exquisite group of statuary was sculptured in the fifth century B. C, 
was discovered in 1506 in the baths of Titus, and is now in the 
Vatican. Cf, Virgil's "^Eneid," Bookii, 11. 201-227, 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. H5 

illustrious laugh. The father of a long, long line 
of brilliant laughs ! 

11 1 don't know what day of the month it is," 
said Scrooge, " I don't know how long I have 
been among the Spirits. I don't know anything. 5 
I'm quite a baby. Never mind. I don't care. 
I'd rather be a baby. Hallo here! Whoop! 
Hallo ! " 

He was checked in his transports by the churches 
ringing out the lustiest peals he had ever heard. 10 
Clash, clang, hammer ; ding, dong, bell. Bell, 
dong, ding ; hammer, clang, clash ! Oh, glorious, 
glorious ! 

Running to the window, he opened it, and put 
out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, 15 
jovial, stirring cold ; cold piping for the blood to 
dance to ; golden sunlight ; heavenly sky ; sweet 
fresh air ; merry bells. Oh, glorious, glorious! 

" What's to-day ? " cried Scrooge, calling down- 
ward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps 20 
had loitered in to look about him. 

" Eh ? " returned the boy, with all his might 
of wonder. 

" What's to-day, my fine fellow ? " cried Scrooge. 

" To-day ! " replied the boy. " Why, CHRIST- 25 
mas Day." 

" It's Christmas Day ! " said Scrooge to him- 
self. " I haven't missed it. The Spirits have 
done it all in one night. They can do anything 



146 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

they like. Of course they can. Of course they 
can. Hallo, my fine fellow ! " 
" Hallo ! " returned the boy. 
" Do you know the poulterer's in the next 
5 street but one, at the corner?" Scrooge in- 
quired. 

" I should hope I did,'' replied the lad. 
" An intelligent boy ! " said Scrooge. " A re- 
markable boy ! Do you know whether they've 
10 sold the prize turkey that was hanging up there ? 
not the little prize turkey; the big one?" 

"What, the one as big as me?" returned the 
boy. 

" What a delightful boy ! " said Scrooge. " It's 
is a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck ! " 
" It's hanging there now," replied the boy. 
" Is it ! " said Scrooge. " Go and buy it." 
" Walk-ER 1 ! " exclaimed the boy. 
" No, no," said Scrooge, " I am in earnest. Go 
20 and buy it, and tell 'em to bring it here, that I 
may give them the directions where to take it. 
Come back with the man, and I'll give you a shil- 
ling. Come back with him in less than five min- 
utes, and I'll give you half a crown ! " The boy 
25 was off like a shot. 

" I'll send it to Bob Cratchit's," whispered 
Scrooge, rubbing his hands, and splitting with a 
laugh. " He shan't know who sends it. It's twice 
1 Walk-er. — A slang term, which implies incredulity. 






A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 147 

the size of Tiny Tim. Joe Miller l never made 
such a joke as sending it to Bob's will be ! " 

The hand in which he wrote the address was not 
a steady one; but write it he did, somehow, and 
went downstairs to open the street door, ready 5 
for the coming of the poulterer's man. As he 
stood there, waiting his arrival, the knocker 
caught his eye. 

" I shall love it as long as I live ! " cried Scrooge, 
patting it with his hand. " I scarcely ever looked 10 
at it before. What an honest expression it has 
in its face ! It's a wonderful knocker ! Here's 
the turkey. Hallo! Whoop! How are you? 
Merry Christmas ! " 

It was a turkey ! He could never have stood 15 
upon his legs, that bird. He would have snapped 
'em short off in a minute, like sticks of sealing- 
wax. 

" Why, it's impossible to carry that to Camden 
Town," said Scrooge. " You must have a cab." 20 

The chuckle with which he said this, and the 
chuckle with which he paid for the turkey, and 
the chuckle with which he paid for the cab, and 
the chuckle with which he recompensed the boy, 

1 Joe Miller ; who has given his name to so many jokes and 
jests, was a comic actor in London (1684-1738), and was in great 
request among the tavern frequenters of his day for his witty say- 
ings. About a year after Miller's death an obscure playwright 
brought out the so-called " Joe Miller Jest Book." 



I4 8 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

were only to be exceeded by the chuckle with 
which he sat down breathless in his chair again, 
and chuckled till he cried. 

Shaving was not an easy task, for his hand con- 

5 tinued to shake very much ; and shaving requires 
attention, even when you don't dance while you 
are at it. 

He dressed himself " all in his best," and at 
last got into the streets. The people were by 

xothis time pouring forth, as he had seen them 
with the Ghost of Christmas Present ; and walk- 
ing with his hands behind him, Scrooge regarded 
everyone with a delighted smile. He looked so 
irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four 

15 good-humored fellows said, " Good-morning, sir ! 

A merry Christmas to you ! " And Scrooge said 

often, afterward, that of all blithe sounds he had 

ever heard those were the blithest in his ears. 

He werit to church, and walked about the 

20 streets, and watched the people hurrying to and 
fro, and patted the children on the head, and 
questioned beggars, and looked down into the 
kitchens of houses, and up to the windows ; and 
found that everything could yield him pleasure. 

25 He had never dreamed that any walk — that any- 
thing — could give him so much happiness. In 
the afternoon he turned his steps toward his 
nephew's house. 

He passed the door a dozen times, before he 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 149 

had the courage to go up and knock. But he 
made a dash, and did it. 

" Is your master at home, my dear?" said 
Scrooge to the girl. " Nice girl ! Very." 

" Yes, sir." 5 

" Where is he, my love ? " said Scrooge. 

" He's in the dining room, sir, along with mis- 
tress. I'll show you upstairs, if you please." 

" Thank'ee. He knows me," said Scrooge, 
with his hand already on the dining-room lock. 10 
" I'll go in here, my dear." 

He turned it gently, and sidled his face in, 
round the door. They were looking at the table ; 
for these young housekeepers are always nervous 
on such points, and like to see that everything is 15 
right. 

" Fred ! " said Scrooge. 

" Why, bless my soul ! " cried Fred, " who's 
that?" 

"It's I, Your Uncle Scrooge. I have come to 20 
dinner. Will you let me in, Fred ? " 

Let him in ! It's a mercy he didn't shake his 
arm off. He was at home in five minutes. Noth- 
ing could be heartier. His niece looked just the 
same. So did Topper when he came. So did the 25 
plump sister, when she came. So did everyone 
when they came. Wonderful party, wonderful 
games, wonderful unanimity, won-der-ful hap- 



15° THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

But he was early at the office next morning. 
Oh, he was early there. If he could only be there 
first, and catch Bob Cratchit coming late ! That 
was the thing he had set his heart upon. 
5 And he did it ; yes, he did ! The clock struck 
nine. No Bob. A quarter past. No Bob. He 
was full eighteen minutes and a half behind his 
time. Scrooge sat with his door wide open, that 
he might see him come in. 
10 His hat was off before he opened the door ; his 
comforter too. He was on his stool in a jiffy ; 
driving away with his pen as if he were trying to 
overtake nine o'clock. 

" Hallo ! " growled Scrooge, in his accustomed 
15 voice, as near as he could feign it. " What do you 
mean by coming here at this time of day? " 

" I am very sorry, sir," said Bob. " I am be- 
hind my time." 

" You are ! " repeated Scrooge. " Yes. I 

20 think you are. Step this way, sir, if you please." 

" It's only once a year, sir," pleaded Bob. 

" It shall not be repeated, I was making rather 

merry yesterday, sir." 

"Now, I'll tell you what, my friend," said 
25 Scrooge, "I am not going to stand this sort of 
thing any longer. And, therefore," he continued, 
leaping from his stool and giving Bob a dig in 
the waistcoat — " and, therefore, I am about to 
raise your salary ! " 



A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 15 1 

Bob trembled, and got a little nearer to the 
ruler. He had a momentary idea of knocking 
Scrooge down with it, holding him, and calling 
to the people in the court for help and a strait- 
waistcoat, s 

" A merry Christmas, Bob ! " said Scrooge, 
with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, 
as he clapped him on the back. " A merrier 
Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have 
given you for many a year! I'll raise youri 
salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling 
family, and we will discuss your affairs this very 
afternoon. Make up the fires and buy another 
coal scuttle before you dot another i, Bob 
Cratchit ! " 

Scrooge was better than his word. He did it 
all, and infinitely more ; and to Tiny Tim, who 
did not die, he was a second father. He became 
as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a 
man, as the good old city knew, or any other 2 
good old city, town, or borough, in the good old 
world. Some people laughed to see the altera- 
tion in him, but he let them laugh, and little 
heeded them ; for he was wise enough to 
know that nothing ever happened on this globe, 2 . 
for good, at which some people did not have their 
fill of laughter in the outset ; and, knowing that 
such as these would be blind anyway, he thought 
it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their 



152 THE ART OF READING ALOUD. 

eyes in grins as have the malady in less attract- 
ive forms. His own heart laughed, and that was 
quite enough for him. 

He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but 

5 lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever 
afterward ; and it was always said of him that he 
knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive 
possessed the knowledge. May that be truly 
said of us, and all of us ! And so, as Tiny Tim 

IO observed, God bless Us, Every One ! 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



Numbers in parenthesis refer to paragraphs, the others to pages. 



A in chaff, etc., 43 
A in harrow, etc., 42 
Adjunct, inseparable, how 

emphasized, (56) 32 
Affectation, how expressed, (8) 

7 
Aiming the tone, (73) 38 
Analysis before reading, ix 
Anger, how expressed, (11) 11 
Animation, how expressed, 

(25) 17 
Anticipated emphasis, (61) 34 
"Apostrophe to the Ocean," 

quotation from, 4 
A?rh- as prefix, how pro- 
nounced, 44 
Argumentative oratory, the 
most effective element in, 
(9)8 
Articulation exercises, 53-59 
Aspirate tone,the,defined,(4)4 
Assertion of the will, how ex- 
pressed, (45) 27 
disguised as ques- 
tion, (46) 27 
simple, how ex- 
pressed, (27) 19 
Assertions, simple, how ex- 
pressed, (45) 27 
Assurance, how expressed, 
(53) 31 



Austerity, how expressed, (13) 

12 
Auxiliaries, etc., how read, 

(71) 38 
Aversion, how expressed, (5) 

5 
Awe, how expressed, (14) 12, 
(24) 17 
A and O in im?nig7'ant, etc., 

43 

Back audience, address, (74) 

38 
Beauty, how expressed, (15) 

13 
Bell Vowel Table, the, 40 
Boorishness, how expressed, 

(6)5 
Breath, taken in slowly, 46 
economizing the, 51 
time of holding the, 
52 
Breathing exercises, 50, 51 

when to prac- 
tise, 52 
C, when sounded like Z, 4^ 
Caution, how expressed, (23) 

17 
Chest percussion, 46 
Childishness, how expressed, 
(7)6 

153 



154 



INDEX. 



" Christmas Carol," the, v 

quotations 
from, ii, 13 
Circumflex inflection: 

rising, (29) 19 
falling, (29) 19 
Class-room method, illustra- 
tion of, ix 
Climax, an oratorical, how 

expressed, (65) 36 
Coloring, denned, 40) 24 
Column of breath, how di- 
rected, (74) 39 
Completeness, how expressed, 

(27) 19, (62) 35 
Compound stress, (37) 23 
Conclusiveness, how ex- 
pressed, (62) 34 
Conditional clause, a, how ex- 
pressed, (49) 29 
Conjunctions, etc., how read, 

(71) 38 
Contemplation, how ex- 
pressed, (24) 17 
Continuity, how expressed, 

(67) 36 
Contrasted ideas, emphasize, 
(43) 26 
expressions, in- 
flections on, (44) 

27 
inflections, (44) 27 
Conversational tone, the, (2) 3 
Courage, how expressed, (45) 

27 
Crescendo, in reading, (36) 23 
Culture, vocal, vii 

"Deathbed of Benedict Ar- 
nold," quotation from, 5 
Deep grief, how expressed, 
(14) 12 
solemnity, how ex- 
pressed, (14) 12, (19) 
15 



Deep breathing, 56 
Deference, how expressed, 

(47) 28 
Definite question, a, how ex- 
pressed, 
(46) 27 
repeated, 
(46) 27 
Definition of good reading, 1 
Deliberation, how expressed, 

(23) 17 
Despair, how expressed, (14) 

12 
Detached thoughts, distin- 
guish, (63) 35 
Diatone distinguished from 

semitone, (32) 21 
Diminuendo^ in reading, (34) 

22 
" Diphthongs," why so called, 

42 
Direct address, how expressed, 
(54) 31 
repeated for 
emphasis, 
(54, a) 31 
after strong- 
emphasis, 
(54, b) 31 
used formally, 
(54, O31 
Discouragement, how ex- 
pressed, (62) 35 
Discussion, value of, vii 
Disguised assertion, (46) 27 
Doubt, how expressed, (28) 

19, (47) 28 
Dread, how expressed, (19) 
15 

Eagerness, how expressed, 

(25) 17 
Ear culture, vii 
Earnestness, moderate, how 

expressed, (18) 14 



INDEX. 



155 



Ecstasy, how expressed, (26) 

'7 
Effusive utterance, defined, 
(10) 10 
breathing, 50 
Elocution as an art, 1 

a science, 1 
Enunciation, method of attain- 
ing perfect, 2 
method of mark- 
ing, 3 
importance of 
distinct, 2 
Exclamation, simple, how ex- 
pressed, (55) 32 
expressing sur- 
prise, (55) 32 
expressing as- 
tonishment, 
(55) 32 
Emphatic word, how deter- 
mined, (43) 26 
Emphasis and inflection, treat 
ment of, 24-38 
defined, 25 
when deferred, (56), 
(57), (58), (60) 33, 
34 
never anticipate 

an, (61) 34 
ordinary definition 
faulty, 25 
Exercises, use of, viii 

physical, 45-47 
vocal, 47 
in flexibility, 48 
breathing, 50-51 
articulation, 53- 

59 
Explanatory words, slide on, 

(50) 30 
Expiosive breathing, 51 

utterance, defined, 
(11) 11 
Expulsive utterance, (9) 8 



Expulsive breathing, 50 

utterance, the test 
of, (9) 8 

Falling inflection, uses of the, 

(27) 19 
Falsetto tone, the, defined, (7) 

6 
Fear, how expressed, (14) 4, 

(19) 15 
Feeling, bringing out the, 1 
Finalitv, how expressed, (27) 

i9» (62) 34 
Firmness, how expressed, (45) 

27 
Flexibility, how gained, 14 

exercises in, 48,49 
of tone, defined, 48 
Force, loud, defined, (20) 15 
treatment of, 14-16 
medium, (17) 14 
soft, (18) 14 
Formal quotation, the inflec- 
tion before, (68) 37 
Formality, how expressed, 
(27) 19 

Gayetv, how expressed, (15) 
13, (25) 17, (76) 39 

Gentler emotions, how ex- 
pressed, (10) 10 

"Glides," why so called, 42 

Good reading, definition of, 
1 

Grandeur, how expressed, (3) 

3 

Graded rise in oratorical 
climax, (65) 36 

Gravity, how expressed, (13) 
12 

Great excitement, how ex- 
pressed, (11) 11 

Grouped thoughts, distin- 
guish, (63) 35 



1 5 6 



INDEX. 



Guilmette, Dr., vowel chart, 

54 
Guttural tone, the, defined, (5) 

5 

Half-whisper, the, defined, (4) 

4 
Haste, how expressed, (26) 17 
Hatred, how expressed, (5) 5, 

(H)ii 
Head-tone, the, defined, (7) 6 
Hesitation, how expressed, 

(72) 38 
High pitch, (15) 13 
Honesty in reading, (69) 37 
Horizontal fore-arm move- 
ment, 46 
Horror, how expressed, (5) 5 

/ final unaccented, 43 

Illness, how expressed, (7) 6 

Imitative modulation, (67) 36 

Imperative (conditional) 

clause, how expressed, (49) 
29 

" Improper tones," 8 

Incompleteness, how ex- 
pressed, (28) 19, (30) 21 

Indefinite question, an, how 
expressed, (47) 2S 

Indefinite question, an, re- 
peated, (47) 28 

Indigestion, a cause of, 52 

Indirect question, an, how 
expressed, (52) 30 

Indistinctness, causes of, 2 

Inflection, defined, 18 

Inflections, slides, and 
pauses, discussed, (18) 22 

Initial stress, (34) 22 

Inseparable adjunct, emphasis 
on, (56) 32 

Intermittent stress, (39) 23 

Interrogatives in a series, 
how expressed, (51) 30 



Interrogatives indirect, how 

expressed, (52) 30 
Irony, how expressed, (29) 19 

Joaquin Miller, quotation 

from, 17 
Joy, how expressed, 13 

Labials, exercises on the, 56 
" Lalla Rookh," quotation 

from, 13 
Laryngeals, exercises on the, 

56 
Legato expression, (10) 10 
Level tone, the, (33) 22 

in long questions, 

(48) 28 
expressing conti- 
nuity, (67) 36 
Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech, 

quotation from, 8 
Linguals, exercises on the, 

56 
Loathing, how expressed, (5) 

5 
Logical subject, emphasis de- 
ferred, (58) 33 
Long interrogatives, (48) 28 
Loose sentences, inflections 

in. (66) 36 
Loud force, defined, (20) 15 
Low pitch, (13) 12 
Lungs, use the entire, 45 

" Macbeth," quotation from, 

15 

Majesty, how expressed, (3) 3 

Malignant emotions, how ex- 
pressed, (5) 5 

Median stress, defined, (35) 23 

Medium force, (17) 14 

time, defined, (22) 16 
pitch, (12) 12 

" Merchant of Venice," quo- 
tations from, 5, 19 



INDEX. 



157 



Minor key in reading, (32) 21 
Mispronounced words, 60-63 
Monotone, the, defined, (33) 
22 
expressing conti- 
nuity, (67) 36 
Mouth-tone, the, defined, (8) 7 

N, when equivalent to ng, 44 
Nasal tone, the, defined, (6) 5 
Natural tone, the, (2) 3 
Nature, never violate, (75) 30, 
New ideas, emphasize, (43) 26 
paragraph, raise the 
pitch, (42) 26 

O in borrow, etc., 43 
Object, the prime, vii 
Objection forestalled, vi 
Old age, how impersonated, 

(7) 6, (39) 23 
" Old Chums," quotation 

from, 24 
Oral tone, the, defined, (8) 7 
Oratorical climaxes, loud force 
in, (20) 15 
climax, how ex- 
pressed, (65) 36 
" Organ tone " in reading, 

(38) 23 
Orotund tone, the, defined, 

(3)3 

Parenthetical passages, how 

read, (59) 33 
Partial close in loose sen- 
tences, (66) 36 
the, defined, (30) 
20 
Participial (conditional)clause, 

how expressed, (49) 29 
Pathos, how expressed, (32) 

21,(76)39 
" Paul Dombey," quotation 
from, y 



Pause, grammatical, vs. rhe- 
torical, (30) 20 
common fault in, (30 

20 
discussed, (30) 20 
Phillips, Wendell, quotation 

from, 9 
Physical exercises, 45-47 
Pitch vs. force — avoid con- 
founding, (21) 16 
low, (13) 12 
medium, (12) 12 
treatment of, 12-14 
high, (15) 13 
Pity, how expressed, (19) 15 
Poise at end of verse, (30) 20 
Positiveness, how expressed, 

(27) 19, (45) 27 
Preface, v 
Prepositions, etc., how read, 

(71) 38 
Principles of Emphasis and 

Inflection, 28-38 
Problem, the, v 
Profound awe, how expressed, 

(24) 17 
Pronunciation, accuracy of, 
40 
principles of, 

42-44 
treatment of, 
40-44 
" Proper tones," 8 
Pure tone, the, (2) 3 

vowel sound, test of a. '2 
Purity of tone, defined, 44 

Question disguised as excla- 
mation, (55) 32 
a definite, how ex- 
pressed. (46) 27 
an indefinite, how 
expressed, (47) 28 
a very long, how 
expressed, (48) 28 



i 5 8 



INDEX. 



Question, an indirect, how ex- 
pressed, (52) 30 
Quick time, defined, (25) 17 
Quotation, inflection before a 
formal, (68) 37 
voice in delivering 
a short, (69) 37 

Radical stress, (34) 22 
Rapture, how expressed, (26) 

17 , 
Reading, meaning of, 1 

relation of, to speak- 
ing, v 
References, marginal, vi 
Related sequel understood, 

(64) 35 
Relative clause, restrictive, 

emphasis on, (57) 33 
Repetition, the danger of 

much, 12 
Restrictive relative clause, 

emphasis, (57) 33 
Reverence, how expressed, 

(33) 22 
Rhetorical pause, the, (30) 20 
with rising 

inflection, (31) 21 
' ' Rip Van Winkle, " quotation 

from, 6 
Rising inflection, uses of the, 

(28) 19 

S, when sounded like Z, 44 
Sarcasm, how expressed, (29) 

19 
Secrecy, how expressed, (4) 4 

(19) 15 
Semitone, the, defined, (32) 21 
Sequel, related, understood, 

(64) 35 
Serenitv, how expressed, (15) 

13, (15) 14, (79) 39 
Series of interrogatives, how 
expressed, (51) 30 



Series, emphasis in a, (60) 34 
Seriousness, how expressed, 

(13) 12 
Shoulder movement, 46 
Side action without breadth, 51 
Similar interrogatives, series, 

how expressed, (51) 30 
Slide, defined, 18 

of emphasis, the, 25 
Slides of speaking voice, 18 

discussed, 18-22 
Slovenly pronunciation, 58 
Slow time, defined, (23) 16 
Soft force, (18) 14 
Solemnity, how expressed, 

(78) 39 
Staccato expression, (9) 8 
Strength, how expressed, (45) 

27 
Stress, value of, 22 

treatment of, 22-24 
radical, (34) 22 
median, defined, (35) 

23 
final, defined, (36) 23 
compound, defined, 

(37) 23 
vanishing, defined, 

(37) 23 
terminal, defined, (37) 

23 
thorough, defined, (38) 

23 
intermittent, defined, 
(39) 23 
Subject, extended logical, em- 
phasis deferred, (58) 33 
Sublimity, how expressed, 3, 

(80) 40 
Surprise, how expressed, (28) 

19 

Suspensive inflection, the de- 
fined, (30) 21 

Sympathy, how expressed, 
(18) 14 



INDEX. 



I 59 



Taste, in expression, vi 
Tennyson, quotation from, 22 
Terminal stress, defined, (36) 

23 
Terror, how expressed, (11) 

1 1 
Tests of the emphatic word, 

(43) 26 
" The Blue and the Gray," 

quotation from, 10 
"The Isle of Long Ago," 

quotation from, 10 
"The Old Clock on the 

Stairs," quotation from, 13 
"The One-Hoss Shay," quo- 
tation from, 6 
" The Pilot," quotation from, 

16 
"The Witch's Daughter," 

quotation from, 20 
Thorough stress, (38) 23 
Threat, conditions of a, how 

expressed, (70) 37 
Timbre in reading, 24 
Time, slow, defined, (40) 16 
or movement, treat- 
ment of, (16) 18 
quick, defined, (25) 17 
medium, defined, (23) 16 
Tone production discussed, 44 
purely me- 
chanical, 45 
quality, treatment of, 3-8 
Tranquillity, how expressed, 

(23) 17 
Tremolo in reading, (39) 23 
-ture, -dure, and -ure, 43 

U'\n true, etc., 43 
Uncertainty, how expressed, 

(28) 19, (47) 28 
Unemotional composition, 

how read, (9) 8, (12) 12 
Utterance, treatment of, 8-12 
expulsive, (9) 8 



Utterance, effusive, defined, 
(10) 10 

Vanishing stress, defined, (36) 

23 
"Vanity Fair," quotation 

from, 7 
Ventriloquism, avoid, (75) 39 
Vertical fore-arm movement, 

46 
Very soft force, (19) 14 
low pitch, (14) 12 
loud force, defined, (21) 

16 
slow time, defined, (23) 

17 
quick time, defined, 25) 
17 
Violating nature, (75) 39 
Vocal culture, vii 
Vocative words, how ex- 
pressed, (54) 31 
Voice, defined, 45 
Vocal exercises, 47, 48 
Vowel Table, the Bell, 40, 41 
Vowel chart, Dr. Guilmette's, 

54 
Warning, how expressed, (19) 

15 
Washington Irving, quotation 

from, 12 
Weakness, how expressed, 

(39) 23 
Webster's Reply to Hayne, 

quotation from, 9 
Webster's Dictionary, refer- 
ence to, 42 
Wendell Phillips, quotation 

from, 15 
Will, assertion of the, how 

expressed, (45) 27 
Words often mispronounced, 

60-63 

X, when sounded like gz, 44 



